Year in Review: Pandemic dominates 2020 sports stories

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Dec 30, 2020 | CORONAVIRUS, Sports |

WINDOW ROCK

For much of 2020 we spent the year in hibernation.

Due to an unforeseen turn of events, much of the sports world had to lie dormant for most of the year.

Everyone was inconvenienced at best and, at worst, we lost someone to the dreaded new disease, COVID-19.

Our local, state and national governments had to take steps to mitigate the spread of this new virus, which was first identified last December in Wuhan City, China.

Because of the pandemic, our area prep athletes lost their spring season, but it didn’t stop there. With the pandemic raging on, these athletes didn’t get to hone their skills during the summer months.

Other than a few border-town schools in Arizona and runners on the St. Michael cross country team, most of our athletes saw their hopes of having a fall season brushed aside as the pandemic continued to wreak havoc.

So far no games or cross country races have been contested for the rest of the Arizona schools on the reservation. The decision on whether or not to not compete rested with each school district.

In neighboring New Mexico, the start of the fall season was pushed back into spring as New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham did not update the public health orders she established in the spring as a way to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The New Mexico Activities Association, as well as coaches and high school athletes across the state, were hoping the governor would have amended the public health orders in mid-October, which would have allowed the NMAA to resume prep sports next week.

The statute at the time allowed teams to do workouts with 10 or fewer athletes within a single pod, while limiting use of equipment and wearing facemasks at all times.

And although the pandemic took the spotlight for our sports coverage, there were other noteworthy events that took place in 2020.

For a complete list of our top stories pick up the Navajo Times.