James Franks is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Higley High School for AZPreps365.com

The Arizona Interscholastic Association reversed a ruling on January 18 that now allows high schools in Arizona to let their winter sports programs play during the 2021 season. 

One of the policies in the ruling is that all players, coaches, officials and parents in attendance must now wear a face covering during all events. 

A few weeks into the winter season, Higley High School is embracing the opportunity to play safely. 

“I don't care that they have to wear the masks,” Higley Athletic Director Aaron Dille said.  “They get to play. That’s all that matters.” 

The winter teams at Higley consist of basketball, soccer and wrestling. The new ruling did not have an initial acceptance from everybody. 

“We (the team) were upset,” boys basketball coach Kenneth Drake said. “After taking a step back and saying ‘look if this is what it takes to have a season, then let’s just go ahead and compromise.’ We were fine with it as long as the boys got to play.”

The face-covering rule has had a physical toll on the players.

“We take mask breaks (in practice),” Drake said. “We try to (make our practices) simulate the game. We took extra breaks knowing that their breathing was impacted by the wearing of masks.” 

Drake also had a few players leave the basketball program due to non-compliance with the face-covering rule and safety concerns from parents before the season began. 

Even though the soccer teams play outdoors, they are not an exception to the rule. 

“The sport (soccer) leans heavily on running all the time,” girls soccer coach Mark Etchamendy said. “It was a big adjustment for them (the team). They have a hard time breathing when they're running constantly.”

A few weeks into the season, Dille has seen positive progress from his programs. 

“I thought there was going to be lots of stoppages of play and masks coming off,” he said. “We're halfway through our season, some of our sports are past the halfway part of their season already, and there have been no issues. It's been completely fine.” 

As the winter season progresses and the first day of spring sports gets closer, Drake is hopeful that the policies will loosen but he knows its not a guarantee. 

“The way we are approaching it is let's prepare to go through this for the rest of the season,” he said. “We do hold out a little hope that that that they (the AIA) will relax it (the policies).”

While the COVID-19 rules for winter sports have presented challenges for the Higley teams, Etchamendy views the current situation as a teachable moment. 

“I just look at it on a bigger level and kind of let them (the team) know ‘Hey, we've had setbacks’,” he said. “This season hasn't been normal compared to all our other seasons and we have to continue to find ways to rise above the challenges that are presented to us.” 

Higley’s spring season starts in March with the resumption of baseball, softball, volleyball, beach volleyball, tennis and track and field. Spring modifications have yet to be announced.