Lake Worth grateful to start fall athletic practices on ‘even playing field’ amid COVID
Lake Worth was facing a 56-day delay to its fall athletic seasons after Tarrant County issued an order stating that public school students couldn’t attend classes in person until Sept. 28 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It meant no indoor workouts for the volleyball team, which would’ve started the season right into district. Included in that order were Castleberry, Kennedale and seven Fort Worth schools in Classes 4A and below.
That’s nearly two months after Lake Worth’s district counterparts.
But teams like Lake Worth had new hope on Monday morning as the first day for fall practices in Texas took place for Classes 4A and below. Schools were able to begin on time after Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that decisions would come at the school level and not from local county orders.
Class 6A and 5A were delayed by the University Interscholastic League until Sept. 7.
“We went through a lot of ups and downs last week. We didn’t know if we were going to get a full season four or five days ago,” Lake Worth volleyball coach Kelly Covert said.
Football players were working out at Lake Worth early Monday while the volleyball team checked in at 7:30 a.m. The athletes turned in medical forms prior to arrival and had to be cleared in order to practice.
They lined up 6 feet apart outside of the school’s field house while getting temperature checks with masks on. They began with stretches and a mile run. Then they hit the weight room before finishing on the court.
“It feels great to start the season on an even playing field,” Covert said.
While the football, cross country and tennis teams also started on Monday, volleyball will have one week to prepare. They have scrimmages on Friday and Saturday before opening the regular season next Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Covert lost sleep trying to juggle everything at once, which included finding new teams to play after tournaments were canceled to help limit large gatherings.
“Losing the tournaments wasn’t such a big deal, it was the fact that my girls were about to jump into district while five other teams were going to have full seasons,” Covert said. “That was pretty challenging and it’s already a tough district.”
Another challenge Lake Worth faced was not having many club players on the team, which made it difficult to get court work in while indoor workouts were shut down.
“I was still able to work out outside of school. I was running, but it was a disadvantage because I don’t have weights at home so I wasn’t able to get that part in,” senior captain Diamond Williams said. “As for court time, we went to sand courts around here and got those workouts in.”
The football team ran its first practice in helmets. It will go to full pads next Monday.
Then one scrimmage and the season starts on Aug. 28.
“I’m excited about it. The kids are excited about it,” Lake Worth football coach Tracy Welch said.
Around 85 students showed up for Monday’s football practice, among the highest Welch has seen at Lake Worth.
“Being in the Metroplex and in one of the counties with a high population of COVID, we understand we have some nervous parents,” he said. “But we’re trying to do everything to social distance and wear masks to take care of the kids, but we’re very excited to get started.”
Welch also had to scramble for a week, replacing three games including his season opener against Fort Worth North Side and a Week 3 contest with Joshua.
North Side and Joshua are both 5A schools, which can’t start practice until Labor Day.
