Anticipation is in the air as Director of Athletics and Summer Camps Becky Silberman clicks on a Zoom link. The voices of Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) athletic directors fill the room as each of them advocates for their school needs. The Fall sports season is steadily approaching, and after a year without school sports competitions, the CESJDS community’s excitement comes to a brim.

With the fall season soon approaching, everyone is preparing for the big return. Athletic Director Becky Silberman spent much of the summer organizing for a safe return to fall sports, the first interscholastic season since COVID-19 abruptly ended the 2020 spring season.

“Our plan for the season in general is that we hope to have as much normalcy as possible,” Silberman said. “The main difference will probably just be extra safety precautions, and since it’s been a year for most of our athletes we have to ease into things a little bit more.”

Planning the logistics for the fall season has been complicated and challenging. Unlike a public school district, where the county makes all the decisions for every school, private schools must make decisions about protocols and how they will run this season independently. Therefore, the planning process is difficult because the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) must balance each school’s needs.

In addition,  schools in the PVAC are located throughout Montgomery County and Washington D.C., which increases the difficulty of figuring out logistics. Since Montgomery County and D.C. have different restrictions and policies regarding COVID-19, the league must adhere to whichever is stricter to ensure everyone will be able to participate in the season while still following local guidelines.

While the schools have been working on the logistics behind the season, athletes have been focused on preparing for their return to the courts and fields. Sophomore Reut Skromne, a member of the varsity volleyball team, practiced her sport frequently in order to successfully return to the volleyball court. 

“Whenever I’m bored and think of something fun to do, I think of volleyball,” Skromne said. “Each time I practice I get reminded of how fun it is and how much I actually like it and that motivates me to keep doing it.”

Tennis coach Brenden Mattingly has also been preparing for this upcoming season, and has high hopes and expectations for the team. There is a relatively new roster, as many of his past players have graduated. 

Mattingly plans on beginning his teams practices a week prior to tryouts to get in as much preparation and practice as possible for the season. He hopes to build on what the team was able to work on last fall. 

“This year we will take what we learned playing against each other and use it against the other teams, which will be exciting,” Mattingly said.