Senior Athletes Miss Out on Their Final Season
The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has prevented many students from taking part in their last season of sports. Many seniors, including those at Peninsula, will most likely not get to experience their last sports game, last meet, last banquet or finish their last season with their teammates. The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District has extended the school closure until further notice, but seniors are still hopeful that they may be able to participate in those final events and get a chance to say their goodbyes.
COVID-19 has prevented senior and varsity track and field captain Josh Ling from attempting to achieve some of his goals as a senior athlete, such as breaking track records, traveling to CIF, and going to the Arcadia Invitational meet, one of the biggest track meets in the nation. Ling was looking forward to doing many of those activities and more with his team this season and is disappointed that the season he had been looking forward to for the whole year will not happen.
“I wanted to see the progress my teammates would make over the course of the entire season,” Ling said. “With the short track season we have experienced, I already saw so much progress from these kids from last year, which made me happy because it meant that all the trust they put in me in guiding them this season and the hard work they put in on the track were paying off.”
Ling and varsity track and field head coach Douglas Esparza are currently communicating to figure out a way to still hold a banquet. If they cannot work this out, Ling plans on coordinating his own sprints banquet with his teammates once the social distancing order has been lifted, so he and the other seniors on the team can say their final words to their teammates before going off to college. Regardless, under the current circumstances, Ling and his teammates are trying to stay positive.
“The whole world is in this together, and while we may not be able to control all the situations we are put in, we can control what we do about them,” Ling said. “Feeling sorry for yourself after being dealt a bad hand will not accomplish anything. I plan on playing my cards to the best of my ability and seeing how far I can go [with the opportunities granted to me this season].”
While many spring sports recently began, varsity girls’ lacrosse became an official CIF sport this year and the team was looking forward to making it to the Finals. Unfortunately the team never got to attempt CIF due to the cancellation, so the girls, including senior and varsity girls’ lacrosse captain Catherine Channell, are sad that they cannot demonstrate the skills they have gained from their progress this season.
“Our team is so much fun to play with, and each girl is uniquely great and a talented player and friend,” Channell said. “I could not wait to have a chance in CIF to play teams other than our South Bay powerhouses.”
The girls’ lacrosse teams are continuing to practice with equipment at home and are trying to maintain the skills they built this season. Although the other girls on the team who are not seniors can look forward to the upcoming season, there is no next season for the seniors, making this a difficult setback for the graduating players to accept.
“I am sure next year our team will be fantastic, but as a senior who is going away to college, there is no chance at redo, makeup or postponements, so it is hard to try and stay positive,” Channell said.
Senior and girls’ varsity softball captain Kelly Beaupre is also disappointed about missing out on her last season of softball because it has been such a large part of her high school experience. Although she currently cannot attend physical team practices and games, Beaupre is still using this time to work on her sport.
“This situation has given me so much time to work on the little things in my game and to get fundamentally sound before my college season,” Beaupre said. “I have also had much more time with my family at home before I go off to college, which has been so nice.”
With the school closure taking place, many of the senior athletes are working on keeping their spirits high and focusing on staying healthy.
