As we all know, COVID-19 has greatly affected sports.

The winter sports season could be put on pause at any given time, as we know from the ban that was lifted on January 4th.

OLSH athletics, courtesy of Coach Mac and the coaches, has done a great job of keeping the players safe and giving athletes hope that they will have a successful season.

The boys basketball team, who won the 2020 WPIAL championship, had a great chance at winning the State Title, but the season ended early due to the pandemic. Senior Mark Polar on the boys basketball team says that they are blessed to still have a season with everything going on. He says even though things are nowhere near normal, it is still great to be back. To stay safe during the pandemic, they are wearing masks at the practices and at games. He says even though there are restrictions, they are still able to prepare for a great and successful season.

The girls basketball team is also safely preparing for a successful season. Junior Kennedy Walsh says the team has been practicing consistently since the restart, and have played several section games per week to prepare for the playoffs. They wear masks at every practice and sometimes during games, depending on who and where they are playing. She says everyone on the team is glad to be back on the court despite the restrictions.

It is important to note that both boys and girls basketball teams will be in an open tournament for WPIAL playoffs, which was recently introduced to give teams equal chances because of COVID restrictions.

Junior Cam Glance on the OLSH-Bishop Canevin co-op hockey team says this year has been very different as they have postponed around 6 games already. He says some teams even have to play with less people on the bench because of COVID rules.Tournaments outside of Pennsylvania have been canceled and there was a period of time where the team had to wear masks on the ice.

As for the bowling team, Junior Luke Pietrizak says the team is also blessed to have a chance to play. In terms of safety measures, they wear masks in practices and games, take temperatures everyday, and try to maintain social distancing.

Best of luck to all of the winter sports teams, and we pray that they can all have safe and successful seasons!