Baldwin winter sports teams have faced hurdle after hurdle due to the Omicron variant. Each team must find ways to protect their health and safety without losing sight of their season goals. 

Going into January, there were some worries about rising Omicron cases in the sports world, but it was not a pressing concern.

Assistant basketball coach Betsy Cast said, “Coming off winter break, Omicron wasn’t the biggest thing in my mind. However, knowing that we had a lot of athletes traveling, I knew that there was a chance that we may be affected in some way.”

Just as Baldwin teams began to relax, a COVID-19 outbreak occurred amongst the basketball team. Multiple members tested positive during the week of January 17, leading to two game cancellations and a full week without practice. 

Coach Cast said, “Personally it’s been super frustrating, but not because we’ve been having trouble getting on the court; it’s more about preserving morale. My current mindset in general is to ask what I can do as a coach to make sure everyone is in the mental mindset of ‘Let’s keep going and just roll with the punches.’”

It seems that while struggles regarding game cancellations are disappointing, these situations act as a bonding force for the teams. 

Basketball player Allie Weiser ‘24, said that the experience has “deepen[ed] our bond because we’ve learned to stay together over these tough weeks. We’ve learned from this opportunity to stick together and keep going.”

 Soon after the outbreak on the basketball team, the dance team also suffered a COVID-related setback, as their in-person Lower School performance was canceled due to the Lower School only gathering in assemblies virtually. The dance team plans to record their in-person performances to share with the Lower School in one of these Zoom assemblies.

Dance co-captain Jessica Lamontagne ‘22 said, “I was excited to hear we had any live performances at all, and I wasn’t super surprised we had to cancel the Lower School one, but it was disappointing.” 

While COVID-19 may have caused scheduling issues and slowed some of this season’s momentum, winter sports teams have pushed through, united and tackled the challenges together.