Several Woodside Fall sports practices and athletic events are being hurt by the recent devastating Northern California fires.
Earlier this month, horrific fires in Napa and Sonoma destroyed a whopping 8,400 structures and other buildings. The effects of the fires have left hundreds of Californians without home or refuge. A few days after the initial fires started, Woodside students began to smell smoke, which filled their lungs with dangerous, particulate matter. In response to the unsafe air quality, several Woodside High school athletic teams cancelled and rescheduled games and practices.
While the decision by the school prevented Woodside student athletes from becoming sick or injured or worse, many Woodside players think that the situation could have been handled better.
“I think for the safety of the athletes it is best to protect us if the air is truly harmful,” senior water polo player Giorgio Fatica stated. “But simply rescheduling the games to the next week gives teams no time to recover, which is detrimental to the team.”
Outside of the pool, outdoor sports team members can also see how important air quality is for their teams’ performance.
“In the most recent games people were lightheaded, which made us look unprepared and unready for the game,” added freshman, David Silk.
By moving practices and rescheduling games, the performance of almost all Woodside athletic teams was hurt.
“The air quality tremendously hurt the boys’ water polo team. We lost about about a week of practice which is very bad in water polo because it only takes a week to be out of shape for swimming,” Fatica added. “We had our most important game of the year after having no practice for a week which made us come out sluggish and slow.”
The logistics and scheduling became a big issue for all of the fall sports teams at Woodside, especially due to the cancellation of the homecoming game.
“A few practices were cancelled and some were moved inside,” junior cheerleader, Zole Orth said. “Since the homecoming game was cancelled because of the air quality, we weren’t able to perform the routine we had been working on.”
Although there is disgust from several athletes about missing valuable practice time, some think that the school acted in a preventative manner.
“I’m glad practices were cancelled and moved because it was in the interest of our safety, but I wish the school reacted sooner maybe on Tuesday rather than Wednesday,” Canellos said.
The horrifying fires throughout the last month touched the lives of millions of Californians. Although athletics are being hurt by the air quality, the Woodside athletic department is trying its best.
“It may not have been the most convenient option for athletes, but it truly wouldn’t have been safe for everyone to be exercising with all of that smoke in the air,” said Orth.
