Sports has been a been a staple for high school for years and years. From football to basketball, it’s fair to say everyone misses them being a part of high school life. With this odd year in place, sports has been vacant and many have actually gave up the idea of potentially having a season after all, while others have not.

On Friday, January 15, Don Lugo student-athletes and parents participated in a small protest to bring back sports. Parents gathered with signs saying, “Let them play” and “Let kids be kids.” This was then posted on donlugofootball Instagram page. Although their meaning for the protest may have sat right with them, it makes zero sense.

Sure, many can argue that not having sports is a terrible feeling and everyone misses it, but putting together a small protest isn’t going to solve a thing, if anything, it makes matters worse. People have to understand that there’s still a pandemic and parents who DID participate in the protest, out of all people, should be focused on their child’s health rather than risk their child getting sick. Theres a risk-reward factor in doing this and fighting for your kids’ to play sports isn’t on top of the priority list at this time.

As of now, San Bernardino is among one of the worst counties in Southern California with 257,000 COVID cases and 1,560 deaths (The New York Times), and that isn’t bound to change anytime soon. So it’s safe to say that sports coming back shouldn’t be a discussion at this moment, especially for schools in Chino Valley.

Along with that, what exactly can a protest of 13-15 people do? There’s no popular voting in the decision by the district or CIF that can help change the results of not having sports, which means there’s really no purpose of trying to fight for it unless it’s being used as a media stunt. With a small group like that, many aren’t going to pay their undivided attention to such a small group of people. And

Not only does this serve no purpose, but it can also tarnish Lugo’s reputation as a whole. Schools promote good health, and protesting for something that can potentially conflict with staying healthy isn’t very mature. Again, not every parent and student are like this at Lugo, but you can’t help but notice that Lugo was written all over them and that can lead people jumping to conclusions about the high school not being safe.

Then again, I can see where the frustration begins. As an athlete, it’s been a roller coaster of emotions when it came to a possible return to sports. All year, parents have been on the edge of their seat of possible returns to sports and it never happened. Like conditioning practices for Fall sports; it only gave them false hope. But with this bumpy year, it’s only logical to put a hold on sports while we focus on the health of our students.