KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Not having fall sports would give students “nothing else to look forward to,” according to one senior in the Liberty School District.
J’nai Moultrie, a senior volleyball player, was among those who attended a rally Tuesday night to show the Liberty School District Board of Education that athletes want to play their respective sports despite the coronavirus pandemic.
“We're out here showing them that we know the consequences of COVID and we know that we have to do stuff to make sure that we don't all get it, but we also want to play,” she said, “to have a wholeness for the rest of the year.”
Kyle Bryant, a Liberty parent, said they are are in “full awareness” that COVID-19 exists, but a lack of sports has been hard on children.
“This has been horrendous on the entire world, on the nation,” Bryant said, “but when we see and we look into our kids eyes right now, and we see just the devastation of something as small as sports – but in the true aspect of a parent, knowing that you're seeing even said by the CDC this week that suicides are up drug use, overdose, all these things, depression, those things are taking over besides just this this virus that we know is alive and well. But you know we got to, we have to move forward at some point.”
He said the gathering could be the “biggest pep rally” student athletes get in the 2020-21 school year.
“We want a partnership with the schools,” Bryant said. “We are not here to say, ‘You're doing something wrong,’ because they haven't even made a decision yet. We are progressing forward with football. We are progressing forward with swimming. All these sports, they've been practicing for almost two weeks now. All we're doing here and saying, guys. You hold the keys right now and we want you to know. We want you to open that door for them, and keep that door wide open right now.”
A “best-case scenario,” according to Moultrie, would be playing without spectators.
“I know last season spring sports couldn't even go and finish a state tournament, Moultrie said. “So just letting us play without spectators and being able to go and achieve our dreams would probably be the best case scenario.”
No decisions were made Tuesday night, but school officials planned to continue discussions with health officials, the suburban conference and the Missouri State High School Athletics Association.
