Athletes are continually adjusting to the new ‘normal’ months after the high school sports season was called off. For freshmen making the move to high school athletics, this transition can be significant.

“This has certainly been an unprecedented time and times like these demand that you do things differently,” campus Athletic Coordinator Matt Swinnea said. “One of the most important things we try to do with all freshmen is to encourage them to tryout for and participate in as many activities as they can. As an athletic program, we work together to facilitate as many opportunities as possible. While there are sometimes conflicts we cannot work through, we do our best to get freshmen involved in Liberty High School.”

Freshman basketball player Emory Williams feels the shift into high school athletics has gone relatively smoothly.

“Going from middle school to high school athletics really wasn’t that big of a change except for the fact that if I wanted to do great I would have to go super hard and have a mindset of being the absolute best,” Williams said. “So far, high school athletics have been awesome! However, COVID-19 has had a huge effect on my sports life, I was supposed to play in the summer, that didn’t happen, and now I have no idea if I’m going to have a basketball season this year at all. All I’m doing is praying and hoping for the best.”

Believing that there is an added challenge this year with COVID-19, freshman soccer player Piper Testa says her team will pull together and have a great season.

“COVID-19 has definitely made things more difficult like having to social distance and wear masks but all things I don’t mind doing to keep everyone safe,” Testa said. “So far I’ve really enjoyed practicing with all the girls on the soccer team because everyone is super nice and helpful and I can’t wait to see how the games go and season turns out!”