Grosse Pointe South High School’s fall sports has been taking place over the past weeks. These sports were approved to take place with safety changes regarding Covid-19. South parents and students were reminded of these changes through an email just last week. Chris Booth, the athletic director of Grosse Pointe South sent out an email regarding the GPPSS Spectator Policies for 2020-21. Booth mentioned that before attending games you should look over the spectator rules to make sure you are following protocol. Rumor has it, this email was sent due to South parents and students not following the new policies. One of the new rules that has had many complaints about is, you’re only allowed two spectators for each player. These spectators typically should be two people from your family.
“If a family member has two or more children, one parent is forced to miss the game,” Anonymous source said. “The stands have been mostly empty especially at JV Football games so it would be reasonable to expand the ticket allotment to parents and siblings in the household.”
This leads into another new policy that is different this season. According to Booth, Spectators not of the same household must sit six feet away from one another.
“As a parent I love watching the games, but I still sit with my friends regardless of the rules.” Anonymous source 2 said. “To me it makes no sense as to why we can’t sit with our friends especially when we see them just as much as we see the people in our household.” Many other rules have also been enforced. For example it states that if you do not have a mask on you will be asked to leave the game.
“I don’t understand the reasoning behind wearing a mask especially when the games are held outside.” Anonymous source 2 said.
These changes can be frustrating as Covid-19 continues to change our daily lives. According to Peter Ulku, not only does this affect the parents and students, but it also affects the players.
“As a team I think the lack of spectators has made a huge impact, spectators make our motivation higher, and without that motivation it feels harder to come back from a deficit,” Varsity football player Ulku said.
According to Booth these rules are implicated to keep the South safe, although, not everyone is a fan of following them.
“I am against the spectator rules because I know in years past I have looked forward to Friday night football games and I know that has been taken away from the students.”