Due to COVID-19 there are field closures all over the Bay Area to prevent the spread of the disease. Miramonte allows field practices which causes the field to be overly crowded and some sports have been playing since the summer. 

“I think Miramonte shouldn’t have every sport everyday so that practices can still stay long and each team will have a chance to practice. Field space has been good for lacrosse since our practices are so late that nobody is there,” senior Lindsey Bliss said. The campus is trying to find ways to deal with field space and there have been a variety of different ideas.. 

Various ideas were presented to the school about field space by coach and parent suggestions but nothing is finalized yet. One option was to make all practices shorter and with a time limit. “The turf field at Miramonte has always been quite crowded, and that is amplified this spring. It takes flexibility from all coaches and athletes. Sharing the field, and utilizing other spaces on campus is vital this year,” girls lacrosse coach Jackie Pelletier said. Practices would only be allowed to be an hour and a half to make sure to leave enough time for all the sports that would be using the field on that particular day. Another option is allowing morning practices to utilize as much time as possible throughout the day. Some teams also had the idea of using Wilder Fields which has three full turf fields that teams can rent for their practices and even games but none of the teams are currently doing this.

Sports in the red tier and below are holding camps right now so they are not practicing everyday of the week yet, however, purple tier sports started. Sports such as track and field and cross country started to use the field. Tiers in order from most COVID-19 cases to least is purple, red, orange, and yellow. “I think that sports that are going to happen first should have priority to the field space. Purple and red tier sports should have the first say in timing and field space and then the rest of the sports should get what’s left,” sophomore Taryn Pearce said. 

In recent news, sports are moving forward and some contact sports are beginning. Football, girls lacrosse, and boys soccer began March 1 and they will all need to share the field with cross country and track. Coaches suggested using other fields like Wilder or at OIS. Morning practices are also being considered for some teams and there will be Saturday games for some teams. Games and practices will be starting the first week of March for some of these teams, so the field will have to be shared by multiple teams at once.