With the winter season approaching, it is time for Hampton Bays High School’s basketball seasons to open up and students to start playing. COVID has absolutely changed the season this year, but has not lessened Hampton Bays’ love and support for the game. The boys varsity team already has two victory under their belt, and this season is not yet over. This year’s team captains are seniors Christopher Sanchez and James Salas, and junior Kazmin Johnson. The boys are very excited this year and are ready to finish this season strong. For those who are in their last year, they want to enjoy their last few moments as a basketball team in Hampton Bays High School. ¨We are all excited to just be able to play together as a team one last time before we all leave to go to college,” said senior Christpher Sanchez. 

The girl’s varsity team has also had a victory this season with several games left. The varsity team captains are senior Haley Castaldo and senior Kaitlyn Mounts. The girls have been keeping their morale high during troubling times of COVID and the unruly nature of sports right now for high school students. “After not having a full season last year, everyone is just happy to be able to be back on the court playing together,” said Senior Elle Dunkirk. 

For the past three years, sports have been very different with COVID. The school has worked very hard to ensure that the safety of its students is the priority when it comes to sporting events and our athletes.  First-year Athletic Director, Mr. Foster, has stated that our number the concern right now is ¨the safety of our students.” This year Mr. Foster has implemented a ticket system to control the number of people in the stands to hopefully lower the chances of COVID spreading. This system gives each student two tickets that they can give to whomever, someone from school or outside of school, so they can watch the games. Without a ticket, you cannot watch the game from the stands. There were some students upset that they wouldn’t be able to support our teams, but this rule is simply to ensure the safety of students and the public. Although this rule faced some criticism from the students at first, most people now see how fan well-being was being put first and are opening their eyes to a new perspective that the school wanted to share.