Several local teams remain sidelined as COVID continues to wreak havoc on seasons

May 8—Well over a year into the pandemic, some things haven't really changed for Rashaan Shehee.

Shehee, the head girls basketball coach at Bakersfield High School, was more than ready to embark on the oft-discussed "return to normalcy" that was supposed to come after COVID-19 forced his team out of action for more than a year. So when state and local officials cleared a path for sports to come back in Kern County, Shehee's Drillers were among the many who were elated to return to practice.

Unfortunately, they've since fallen in with a group that's seen its enthusiasm squashed a bit.

While several teams have had their seasons carry on without incident, others have been forced to put theirs on pause due to positive COVID-19 tests. The BHS girls were among that group, as a Driller player tested positive two days before a scheduled season opener against Frontier on April 28.

Shehee says he thinks the relaunch of sports was done with good intentions, but has seen the desired effect lost on many athletes who've been forced to return to square one.

"It was done for a mental standpoint for the kids, at least that's what everybody was saying," said Shehee, whose team is scheduled to return to practice Monday. "(They were saying) 'Kids are depressed now, they need some normalcy back in their life and sports was one of those things so let's get that going.'

"I just don't know if this is having a positive impact on our kids when quite a few teams right now are dealing with COVID issues."

Other, like the North High boys basketball team, also had to shut down operations before playing a game. The Stars were put on pause for two weeks on April 28, also due to a player testing positive for COVID.

North coach A.J. Shearon, who also serves as the school's athletic director, says he and the rest of the department have been diligent in enforcing proper testing protocols, and that the positive test is an unfortunate result of a world yet to escape the grasp of coronavirus.

"It's still a little bit of new territory for everyone," Shearon said. "We talked about it with our kids, how important it was to be smart, do the right things, make sure we're taking testing protocols seriously. But knowing what other schools have faced, we knew (a positive test) was still a possibility."

One person very surprised to be shutdown is Stockdale volleyball coach Maria Collatz. On April 27, the Mustangs were taken off the court for two weeks after a coach tested positive, despite getting both vaccine shots.

"All of my coaches, there's five of us, we're all fully vaccinated and we all got vaccinated early," Collatz said. "The reason we did it early was because we wanted to go back to some kind of normalcy for the kids.

"We were doing so well, we were so excited. Then, to not even be able to see the kid's faces when they said we'd be out for 14 days, to only talk to them on text or email, that's just so hard for me."

Having to once again be separated from his team has proven challenging for Shearon, who says he's seen some noticeable looks of despondence from his players as they've been forced to go back to communicating through Zoom.

"For coaches, there's things we can do to occupy our time," he said. "But it's really tough on our kids and I think the mental toll that this whole COVID experience has exerted on our kids is substantial."

Despite their frustrations, coaches are trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

Since volleyball is among the sports that will not have a postseason this spring, Collatz believes her team, which is eligible to come out of quarantine, Tuesday, has a chance to make needed improvements heading into the fall.

"If anything, I think it's going to make it more exciting because you only have two weeks to play," she said. "So we're just going to be excited to be back there and doing the best we can in our two weeks together."

Shearon, who can reconvene with his club on Wednesday, says he takes solace in the fact that his players will be returning with a clean bill of health.

"Our whole program is happy and healthy and there are a lot of people across the country and across the world who weren't so lucky," Shearon said. "We have to keep that perspective even as we deal with some of the frustration that comes with this."

Shehee is hopeful that his frustration will start to fade when his team is finally able to take the court again. Just two days after returning to practice, the Driller girls are scheduled to play for the first time in over 14 months when they travel to face Independence Wednesday.

And while he is "extremely happy" to have another game to coach, Shehee gave a measured response when asked if he was optimistic that he would soon be able to return to a world where his team could compete without persistent testing and fears of contracting coronavirus.

"Am I optimistic? I'm hopeful, that's probably the better word," Shehee said. "I'm hopeful it will happen soon. I really hope so for the kids. But I don't know."