On Aug. 21, the PIAA voted 25-5 to let fall sports continue for the upcoming seasons with no spectators. This was a tough pill to swallow for parents and athletes, especially the senior class, because this was supposed to be their last year to shine.

On Sep. 2, Governor Wolf lifted the spectator ban for high school sports. There is now allowed to be up to 250 spectators at outdoor events and 25 people at indoor events. These numbers include players and coaches as well. As Freedom is still working on ideas to let parents into the games, the district will be live streaming the games so spectators can watch from home. 

Senior David Martsolf expresses his concerns about not all parents being able to attend the games because of possible injuries that their kids may face.

“I hate it. It sucks. My parents have watched me play since I was three, and they will get to watch me through a screen. It’s not fair to them,”senior soccer player Jessica Scheel said.

On Thursday, Sep. 3, the school board discussed how it will be easier to have spectators at soccer games because there are not as many spectators compared to a Friday night football game. When the numbers are added up between the football players, cheerleaders, band, coaches, officials and the opposing team, it is predicted that there will be about 50 tickets left. Unfortunately, for volleyball, being that it is an indoor sport, there are only allowed to be up to 25 people in the gym. This creates a problem for teammates who are not on the court to support their team.

“I am obviously very upset that for my senior season my parents and friends won’t be able to attend my games. However, I’m glad that they are at least doing live-streams of our games so that they can watch from a safe place with no risk of getting the virus. It’s definitely going to be weird and hard to get used to, but in the end, if my family and friends are safe and I get to play the sport I love, then I’m willing to give up the in-person spectators,” volleyball player Madison Lewis said.

As the district tries to think of ways to allow spectators at games, it is most likely that some sports will suffer more than others. An email was sent to football players, cheerleaders, band and unit members asking how many tickets they would need for their family. Some sports will not have to worry as much about limited spectators because they will see smaller crowds compared to others.