On Thursday, January 27, the athletic department told the members of the boys basketball team that their season would be put on hold until February 6. This was due to a recommendation from the Burlington County Health Department because of the multiple recent COVID-19 positive cases within the team. Members of the team and athletic department expressed their feelings towards the news.
Athletic Director Danielle Dayton said that “any time you have to put a team on pause is disappointing,” but from a health and safety perspective, “it was the right decision.” She says that MFS “work[s] very closely with the county [which] guides [MFS] on what is best given each individual circumstance of the team and they had recommended that we put a pause.”
Varsity captain Andrew Elmore ’22 said he “feel[s] like we’ll all come back out of shape, but it sucks that it’s my last year and [multiple] games have been cancelled.”
Vanya Weinstock ’23 agreed with Elmore and said he “hopes they will be back on February 7 to finish out the season.”
Captain Peter Tummarello ’22 agreed, saying that the team will “probably be a bit sluggish at first but will all be excited to play again as teammates.”
The teams were scheduled to play games against three Friends League schools during this time: Friends Select, Shipley, and Friends Central. The team’s long awaited senior night has also been pushed back.
Dayton said that the team will “definitely come back rested” and “hope[s] they come back motivated and excited.” She said that “sports teaches us all kinds of things, and one of the things that it’s teaching us right now is to enjoy each and every day and to not take any of those days for granted.”
Dayton also mentioned the Quaker value of resilience: “One of the things I’m most proud of, and I think that Moorestown Friends sets our students up to do really well, is one of our Quaker values of resilience and we do have student athletes who are resilient.”
The Friends League quarter finals, a game that is at the front of the team’s mind, is scheduled for February 11. Although the team will come back to about a month left of their regular season, Tummarello said, “hopefully [the team] will be able to string off a couple [of] wins while the energy is high.”
