The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Upper Merion athletes ask for chance to play fall sports
KING OF PRUSSIA » All Upper Merion’s fall athletes are asking for is a chance.
Sunday afternoon, a number of Vikings athletes and parents held a “Let Us Play” rally in front of Upper Merion Middle School ahead of the Upper Merion School Board meeting scheduled for Monday night. After practicing all summer following health and safety protocols, as well as performing community service in the area without incident, athletes believe they can continue it into fall competition.
They just want a chance to show it.
“Trying is better than not letting the season play out,” senior football player Keith Boyle said. “Even if we only get a couple games in, I’ll be happy. If something forces us to shut down, we at least want to say we tried to get a few games in and let our senior season play out a little.”
Upper Merion, which is part of the Pioneer Athletic Conference, hasn’t made a decision on fall sports yet, but district Superintendent Dr. John Toleno suggested moving fall sports to the spring on his Twitter account Thursday morning.
In the PAC, Norristown, Phoenixville and Pottstown have opted out of fall sports while Pope John Paul II has also postponed fall activities under directive from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Pottsgrove voted to play fall sports, but will follow Montgomery County health guidelines, which are not allowing “highrisk” sports such as football under current COVID-19 positivity rates.
“It’s kind of scary because as of now, most of the schools around us are cancelling and not having a season,” Upper Merion senior Christian Ghanayemi said. “I really want us to have a season and it’s scary thinking about what would happen if we had our season taken away.”
The Vikings began voluntary team workouts in July and none of their participating programs have reported a positive coronavirus test in that timeframe. Service projects have been a hallmark of the football