GENESEO, Ill. — Fall sports are officially back in Illinois. In Geneseo, Illinois the girls volleyball team held their first official practice. For senior Emma Frank it’s exciting to have a full season as opposed to a shortened condensed season like last spring. Frank saying, “It’s just really exciting. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for this team.”
Geneseo high school athletic director Joe Nichols says there is a lot of excitement in the air. “This is two years in the making. It hasn’t really been the fall first day for two years.”
Nichols says the start of the year brings a lot of excitement for students and staff. “Usually the energy of a school in the fall is a little different. It’s kind of like everything is new and possible.”
The restrictions are minimal from the IHSA, with mask required indoors for athletes and coaches, but not much else outlined beyond that. Capacity limits and practice restrictions are gone entirely, and for outdoor sports things look virtually the way they did pre-pandemic.
Despite the appearance of normalcy, Rock Ridge head football coach Jeff Henry knows this isn’t necessarily the case saying, “We’re still not out of this pandemic thing, so we need to be thankful for everything that we get and every day that we get on the practice field.”
Rock Ridge quarterback Brayden Deem says he’s thrilled to be back, but taking it one day at a time saying, “It’s definitely a blessing but we know that could happen again so we should take every opportunity we can.”
It’s a feeling Frank can relate to. She says it’s disappointing to be back to masking during practices and games, but not something to stop from the season getting off. “I know things change so quickly. I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I just hope we get to have a normal season this year.”