The Coronavirus pandemic has caused lots of sports teams to change the way they operate. The Arlington High School lady tiger soccer team let us in on some of the changes they have had to make this season.

Lizzie Coleman is a junior on the team and you can find her playing holding midfield. Even though the team is allowed to play, they still try and take as much precaution as possible. “The team wears mask and gets their temperature checked before every practice and game. We also social distance as best as our sport allows us while playing,” says Coleman.

We are lucky enough to have our own amazing school district here in Arlington, but other schools are not so lucky. Shelby County schools and also some private schools have not allowed their sports teams to begin playing, which has caused a loss of games for our teams at Arlington. “Covid has caused us to lose a good amount of games. Many private schools have cancelled games because their school has different rules than us,” says Coleman.

Another big thing Covid has affected is coaching styles in the game. “The coaches made us practice with drills that were socially distanced at the beginning on the season. We also did a lot more conditioning, since we couldn’t do contact for the first part of our season,” says Lizzie.

Preseason for the girls looked a little different this year because of the strict rules that were in place at the time. Although, Lizzie says the team did not get setback because of their circumstances. “I would say there wasn’t a setback. The noncontact helped us train together. We did conditioning to help us get into better shape and did tons of touches drills to help with our play as a team,” says Coleman.

Covid may has not only taken away games for the team but also some other events done in years past. “We have had to miss out on a banquet at the end of the season. We have also had to miss out on many team bonding activities we do, such as big sister and little sister parties,” Lizzie says.

One thing covid has not affected, is the memories the team has gotten to make together. Lizzie said, “I have made a lot of fun memoires this season! I love my team like family! We are all so close and have each other’s backs no matter what!”