Weighing in on the pandemic

Former prep coach gives her take on COVID-19's effects on prep sports.

Lisa Hinshaw knows a lot about local prep sports, as she has 13 years experience as the head coach of the Southwest varsity volleyball program.

Months after stepping down after the 2019 Fall season to devote more time to family commitments, Hinshaw got to see from the outside the complete stoppage of the local prep sports landscape.

And as we reach the middle of the Summer season, lots of questions loom; as coronavirus positive numbers continue to come in at a high rate in both Imperial and Yuma counties.

What will the fate of the coming Fall sports season be?

Even though the CIF-San Diego Section is scheduled to make an announcement about the status of the coming season for Imperial Valley programs, Hinshaw already believes that the writing is already on the wall for a much longer delay than a lot of local sports fans would hope for.

"Obviously, the hope is always there that this, I don't know, magically just gets better. I don't foresee a Fall season happening. Or, I want to say even a safe Fall season happening."

If this does indeed come to pass, Hinshaw feels terrible for all the area student athletes, especially the returning Eagles volleyball players that she has coached and trained for a number of years.

With the current social distancing mandates in place, Hinshaw is concerned that the lack of team bonding and chemistry building will cause the game to suffer; amongst other team sports.

"You just can't get back into the swing of things. You got to get there. And so, we're talking about months upon months of being out of, let's just say the volleyball sport. And this is taking quite a toll I think on everything like that. I mean, anything from sports to just anything. Anything. It's gonna, if effects, you know, a big part of what the girls know as their norm."