Football Practice Offered through Pelham Recreation Department

Gabby Ahitow, Managing Editor, Freshman

In a news release by New York State Public High School Athletic Association Section 1, from October 26, the Executive Committee of Section One “approved sport-specific, offseason workouts for all sports”. This meant that any sport that didn’t have a fall season because it was a high-risk sport could begin practicing. However, the PMHS football team has been training through the Pelham Recreation Department since October. 

“They basically wanted to do this so it wasn’t a school-sanctioned event,” said Athletic Director Christian Hodge. 

Pelham Rec ran camps for varsity, JV, and modified players. Since these workouts were run through the Rec Department, fees were paid and anybody who wanted to play could. The players and coaches were required to wear a mask, temperatures were taken before each workout, and no equipment was used, besides a football. 

“Obviously it was a challenge to keep everyone as socially distanced as possible, football being a contact sport we are very limited in the thing we could do,” said Artie Viggiano, PMHS varsity football coach. 

The practices are now over due to the cold weather. Viggiano doesn’t currently have any plans for upcoming practices or workouts. 

Viggiano said, “I’m really excited about this team, we have a lot of great athletes, a lot of great kids. I think this could be a really great year for us, a strange year obviously,”.