BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Since the end of the school year, most everyone has been curious when some normalcy would return, especially in athletics. This week Garces Memorial High School and some of their sports teams are making their return to campus to begin workouts, including football.
"We're just really excited to be able to have our kids out here, but we're also understanding of the guidelines and the safety, and that is our utmost importance," Trevor Horn, Garces Memorial Sports Information Director said.
Horn shared that along with football, the water polo, basketball and tennis teams have also begun practices with an emphasis on practicing safety measures.
"Whether it's wearing a mask or staying socially distant from each other, understanding the reasons behind that," Horn said.
That also includes a temperature check and answering questions about recent health before being allowed on campus for practices that are currently focused on conditioning and workouts.
And, if you're curious how serious those precautions are being taken you can just take a look at head football coach Paul Golla who is hidden beneath a large face covering the entire workout along with his coaching staff wearing masks.
"He's making sure that everybody is safe, and everybody's following the guidelines, but he's also a football coach, so he makes sure that his kids are ready to go when we do get their call to be able to play the game again," Horn said.
The school won’t know about the possibility of a fall sports season until the CIF’s decision on July 20th, but obviously hoping that fellow county high schools will be able to return to some athletic normalcy as well.
"I think Kern County is a family as a whole. And so, if the rest of the county is unable to go, it's going to be really hard for Garces Memorial to field a football season, so we hope that everybody follows the same guidelines from our local authorities and the Kern County Public Health, and really kind of see what the future entails in terms of COVID-19 and athletics and making sure that everybody stays within the guidelines and safety, and we move forward instead of falling back," Horn said.
Along with Garces Memorial, the other private high school in town, Bakersfield Christian has also returned to campus for some team workouts this week, while the Kern High School District still has restrictions on their schools for returning for athletic activities.
