On November 17th the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) postponed the start of winter sports to January 19th, 2021 due to the implications COVID-19. Even with this unfortunate news, student athletes are still continuing to train and practice in small group settings as they are preparing for January 19th, which is the current date for the start of winter practices. Although the winter sports season has been delayed until the new year, many athletes are taking this time to prepare. Senior captain of the Girls basketball team Emma Novajasky has been a four year varsity player of the team.

“Although I’m very upset the season has been moved back until January, I have really been taking advantage of this long time to prepare. I’ve been working out a lot and have been working on my ball skills so I’m extremely ready for when the season finally starts. I’m so excited to get after it right away!” Novajasky said.

Novajasky also talked about what the team is doing to prepare in the meantime while they have some time off,

“Right now everything is currently on hold so we haven’t really been able to do anything together. But all of us individually are getting into shape and practicing a lot on our own.”

Additionally, the CIAC has yet to announce if there will be a postseason tournament, but as of now the focus is just getting teams back to regular practice. Once teams are allowed to practice again, they will continue to do so while wearing masks and keeping their distance as much as possible. With this time off, this could affect teams positively and negatively, for girls basketball Novajasky explains the effects of the delay.

“I think something positive we can take away from the season getting moved back, is we all have so much time to prepare and get better individually before the season starts. This is a great period of time for everyone to work hard every day to become a better player. A negative aspect is that we haven’t been able to all play and practice together. When we’re able to start we will definitely have work on our team chemistry and playing together as a whole.” Novajaksy said.

The CIAC has yet to come out with any additional updates on what practices and games will look like but student athletes are continuing to keep their heads up and looking forward to the resumption of practice and competition.