Lawrence could play varsity winter sports

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With the lifting of the state’s prohibition against high-risk sports such as basketball and wrestling, the possibility of Lawrence schools reinstating winter sports could become a reality.

“No Nassau County school has gotten [Nassau County] Department of Health guidance,” said Superintendent Dr. Ann Pedersen as of press time. “We are preparing as we wait.” That includes meetings with coaches and parents on protocols. Most likely, no spectators, no locker rooms, testing and behavior pledges.

Lawrence decided not to field a relatively low-risk high school winter track team or squads for the modified fall sports season that could be in action in a couple of months. A decision on the planned modified spring season is yet to be made.

That Lawrence would not take part in any athletics angered many, including the coaches and students. A protest took place in December, where roughly 40 students gathered in Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park and then marched to the high school.

“Sports is huge things at Lawrence, especially for us athletes through these hard times we need sports, people are looking for as one of my classmates said, ‘the light at the end of the tunnel,’” basketball player Don Smalls III said at the protest.