Let online students practice sports in the athletics period

On August 6th, all soccer athletes at Stevens High Schools were informed by our coach that NISD directors have decided that if we do not attend classes in person, we will not be able to practice soccer until the season starts. So far this is the case for all sports in the district, not just soccer. I feel like athletes that choose to remain virtual should still be able to attend practice in person at school during the athletic period on a daily basis as we normally would, and just go back home after practice and do online classes. This let's athletes continue to improve and enjoy our sport while keeping up with our school work and classes, yet still keeping us and our family safe. Attending practice at school while remaining virtual for classes is still safer than completely going back to school in person. Being in school for 8 hours maximizes the risk of getting infected and not to mention how uncomfortable it would be to wear a mask for that amount of time. I do not think it’s fair for athletes to have to risk our life’s and their families’ just so we can keep playing our sport. These sports are a way of relieving stress and learning discipline, responsibility and teamwork, for us. So I think it would be great if we could keep playing, with the safety precautions necessary, through these rough times. If we are allowed to go practice in person while still remaining virtual for the rest of the classes, we would still have good safety measures like temperature checks, hand sanitizer before entering the field/quart/track/etc, separate group training, and even Covid testing once a month, if possible. For a lot of athletes our sport is a huge part of our life. With the precautions necessary, I feel like it would be great if we could continue practicing in person, yet still be able to come back home and do online classes.