Covid-19 has had an impact on almost every sport in the Lakeland Regional High School community so far this year. Between shutdowns, cases, spreads, and cancellation of games, the public is aware of how high school sports are impacted. However, no one is talking about club/travel sports. A lot of money is sacrificed to play at the competitive level of club sports, and it is a shame because there is so much less coverage about what those kids and parents are going through. 

The Lancer Ledger got to talk with some club sport athletes and see how their seasons went/are going.

Lakeland student athlete and senior Scott Martin stated how his hockey team, the New York Saints, suffered numerous Covid shutdowns. Martin said, “Although we really tried to make the most of our year it was really hard to bond with each other… Being an indoor sport, as well, also set us back. In the beginning, we were unsure how comfortable to feel with all the different teams coming from all over and playing in an enclosed ice box.”  

He also told us that with no locker rooms/changing areas it was hard to go over gameplans as a team as well.  However, Martin finished the interview by stating although this year may have been a little unorthodox, he’s glad he got to spend as much time with his teammates and play with them one last time before shipping off to college.

Katie Mullin, another Lakeland senior, shared her experiences as well about her club soccer season. “A lot of the girls already knew each other from playing with each other from past years, but it was a little disappointing to not be able to do the usual end of year festivities that we normally are able to do.” 

Mullin’s team was also limited to outdoor only practices, no matter what the weather was. 

Mullin was  distburbed by how unfair her soccer program was with cost and tuition. “Travel and club sports are generally very expensive, so it was a little discouraging not getting the same feeling from playing.” 

Regardless of where you play, the 2020-2021 sports seasons, dealt with a lot of difficulty for almost a year now, but with the support and sacrifices from athletes, families, coaches, and officials New Jersey was able to make the most of it and helped each club sports season a success. Let’s hope for those in club sports next season brings back the “old normal” to make their time, money, and efforts worth it.