Even though the students at Columbia High School have been learning virtually, winter sports team have been able to take place, in accordance with the New Jersey state guidelines. Our sophomore son tried out for and got a spot on the boys JV basketball team. The basketball team plays in the Super Essex Conference and the opponents this season have included Montclair, Seton Hall Prep, East Side High School and Payne Tech.
Even with a modified season and playing in empty gyms, the kids are having a great experience. Practices are scheduled so that teams don’t overlap. Everyone wears a mask until they are on the court. Roughly half the games are away and half are at Columbia. Just recently, NJ started to allow two parents/guardians to attend games so that has been great. But it’s still a far cry from the packed gyms of prior years. As the volunteer scorekeeper, I’ve been able to get to just about all of the games. We’ve had more weather-related cancellations than Covid-related although we did have two opponents cancel because of Covid quarantines.
Other teams that have been able to have some semblance of a season include the Girls Basketball team (and the Columbia Varsity girls team is doing great by the way!), Ice Hockey, and Fencing.
We are grateful to the Columbia administration and the coaches who are enabling the kids to have some normalcy during this trying pandemic.
