Alejandra Yañez | THE RIDER
When I was in high school, I used to chant, “Do or die for Los Fresnos High!” at every pep rally and sporting event, only I never actually meant it. I did not literally mean I was willing to risk my life for my school, but for the athletes and students in today’s schools, amid the pandemic, that chant holds a far more realistic meaning.
Students who attend high school today in the Rio Grande Valley and across the country may in fact die for their schools with athletic programs reopening and hosting practices.
These minors blindly attend practices, holding onto what is left of their high school experience. But in reality, it is completely irresponsible of athletic programs to allow minors to make decisions that may affect their health for the rest of their lives.
The same goes for my university and the obsession that people have with this return to athletics when people are dying of a novel virus.
At least the university is required to test its athletes weekly due to the NCAA 50% surveillance guidelines, but where is the testing for high school programs? And why are we allowing minors to go back to practice when we have no official requirement to clear them, except for self-screening?
The university tests its athletes weekly and still experiences outbreaks. With that said, what is the fate of high school athletes then if they do not even have that?
Why are we playing Russian roulette with these people’s lives? And for what? Entertainment?
Sports are not a necessity. They are games when it really comes down to it, and games are meant to pass the time, for leisure.
I hate to break it to my university and to high schools and universities across the country, but the United States is not in a current state of leisure.
Everyone is making sacrifices in light of this pandemic, and because every day I live in fear of what this virus could do to my life, I have to ask, why are you all willing to die for these sports?
I am extremely disappointed in my alma mater, my university and my country for not prioritizing the health of the public.
Like many others, I have grappled with my own mortality every night since this pandemic began, something I never thought I would be doing in my early 20s, but seeing people my age and younger die due to COVID-19 is all too real to ignore for me. Yet some of us still choose to.
I saw my mother beg God to spare my uncle when this virus nearly sent him to his grave and I refuse to believe that we all need it to “hit home” or affect someone that we love before we wise up.
This virus is real. Not everything is political. Life is not political. Wearing a mask to save a life should not be political!
Life is precious and should be protected at all costs, right? So, then, why are we not doing everything in our power to preserve it?
We really need to get our priorities straight because this is beginning to make me lose my faith in humanity. Can we all really be that selfish, self-absorbed and righteous to think that we are above an incurable virus?
I am sick and tired of this nation’s secrecy and how it has trickled down even to my own university. Public health during a crisis should not be top secret.
We all deserve to have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions for ourselves and our families, yet the transparency is not there.
Every week, I interview people who tell me that they are doing their best under the circumstances to get back to whatever they believe they need to get back to.
But why are we in such a rush to get back to the way things were? They will never be the way they were before. We will never have back the thousands of people we lost to this virus. They are gone, and their blood is on all of our hands.
Last week, I interviewed someone who told me, “we are all on the same team,” when it comes to fighting this virus, but I do not feel like I am on that team at all.
To be quite frank, I do not think that team ever even hosted tryouts, because they are already living in their own world. A world where on Nov. 25, all will be back to normal.
However, I beg to differ, because I know my world will definitely not be fine and dandy in a month.
The first thing you learn in sports when being part of a team is that you must communicate with your teammates.
I am sorry to say that my university and other universities throughout the nation are not holding up their end of the bargain.
Last week, I also reported on 24 positive COVID-19 cases among UTRGV student athletes. I reported on the university’s highest number of confirmed cases since July without a peep from any other news outlet or a message from my university to warn and advise its students.
When I asked officials why this is, they replied that the university would rather have people “go fish.” It was then that I realized this really is a game to everyone.
As I recall, “Go Fish” is a card game I used to play as a kid and here I am today in college playing the same childish games with my university. What is at stake, you might ask? Only the well-being and safety of my campus community. Nothing major, right?
To make matters worse, I happen to know that the same facility in which some student athletes practice in is the same facility that students use for classes, such as archery and other kinesiology classes.
Scientists have discovered that this virus can live in the air for hours, so why are we using these same facilities, UTRGV?
UTRGV athletes at least know what they are getting themselves into and are updated by their department, but for the rest of the campus community, we step on campus not knowing if we will be exposed to this virus or not.
We have been dealing with this virus since March and from where I stand, I do not see anything getting better.
With this column, I hope to bring some awareness to the issues that are happening not under our noses but blatantly in front of our faces.
High school football and volleyball is being televised here in the Valley, where I have seen multiple minors without masks on and off the court.
I hope that if you have a brother or sister in high school, like I do, that you hold them back from exposing themselves on the field and on the court.
They may not understand because their school sports programs have on rose-colored glasses and tell them they will be safe. But no one is safe right now and by not participating in sports for the next year or so, you are making a choice to continue participating in life once this is over.
Ignorance is not bliss during a pandemic. With that said, I hope that this column urges my university, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, to see the urgency with this virus and do a better job at informing the campus community of cases on campus–because “go fish,” is no longer acceptable to me.
I am aware that I cannot single-handedly halt all sports for the sake of public health, but I hope that this column makes you take a step back and prioritize what truly matters, and for me, that is not football Sundays, it is family Sundays.
I do not care if my favorite teams play this season, I want to make sure that every member of my family makes it back to their spot at the dinner table when this is all over. That is my version of returning to normalcy and I pray it is yours, too.
