There may not be a group of student-athletes in the country who have been more significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic than current high school seniors who were and are aspiring to garner athletic scholarships to compete at higher educational institutions.
Athletic talent is frequently utilized as a ticket to the admission and financing of higher education for young men and women who may have not otherwise been able to access certain institutions. This increases the incentive for children and parents to place an even greater emphasis on the development of athletic talent in hopes that it will create opportunities to attend colleges and universities that can provide a higher level of academic instruction and athletic exposure.
The cultural embeddedness of the athletic route and the sports dream in the lives of young Black men in particular is something that is taken for granted in most cases. While sports may play the role of a hobby to some individuals, others see it as the sole means to social mobility. Sports, particularly football and basketball occupy an extremely prominent aspirational place in the minds of many young Black males. The reasons for this are manifold. There is of course the pure enjoyment and the love of playing sports. They also receive consistent support and validation from their peers and community. They are cheered for and celebrated for their talent.
Those few athletes who emerge and gain access to the upper levels of college and professional athletics are treated much differently from the majority of Black men in the United States. Black males receive a celebration and adoration in the athletic arena that they find in no other area of society.
Unfortunately, the vast sum of Black males who throw their everything into sports, but whose talent did not warrant college athletic scholarship offers or pro sports contracts are often those with the least access to viable post-secondary education and employment options. Those young people who fall into that category may be the most impacted by decisions to cancel entire sports seasons.
A current case study for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth sports and the aspiration attached to it is the Shelby County Schools (TN) System decision to cancel Fall and Winter Sports. Shelby County, which encompasses the city of Memphis, is the largest school district with the greatest number of minority student-athletes in the state of Tennessee. Memphis has long been a hotbed for basketball talent and has increasingly produced a significant number of blue-chip football recruits.
Shelby County Schools was the only school district in the state to take the stance of having no sports participation at all. The announcement from Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dr. Joris Ray on September 15, 2020 read as follows – “Today, the District announced that fall sports are postponed until further notice. Despite collaborative efforts in the District and locally to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus, there is still far too much uncertainty to move forward with athletic practices and competitions at this time. SCS leaders have been working closely with the CDC, Health Department, and National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and all of them have warned about the risks of spreading the virus through athletic participation at this time. Local infectious disease specialist Dr. Manoj Jain also recently cautioned that sports are not a wise idea ‘given the uncertainties around the novel virus and the undiagnosed number of cases in our community.’ Our decision to postpone fall sports until further notice is yet another unimaginable consequence of an unprecedented time. However, we must lean on the guidance of health experts and not emotions. We want to play, our coaches want to coach, and we still hope for the opportunity to do both when conditions improve.”
