Due to unusual circumstances that have turned into the norm this year, student-athletes around the North Shore have been forced to adjust their schedules.
These changes have been made to comply with the 2020-2021 athletic calendar the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) created due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. That calendar created a new fourth season for this year, “Fall Sports II,”, and MIAA subsequently passed a temporary rule allowing student-athletes to play a sport in all four seasons.
And the student-athletes have taken advantage of it.
Bishop Fenwick stands on top as the school with the most four-sport athletes in the area, with a total of five — all football players — taking on a new sport this fall. Steven Woods and Jason Romans picked up their clubs and made the golf team, while Colby Browne, Jacob Vargus and Troy Irizarry have all decided to run cross country.
“Since football is the only sport we’re not playing this fall, the football players were really the only ones who had an opportunity to pick up another sport,” said Dave Woods, who serves as Fenwick’s athletic director and head football coach. “We’re really happy for the guys and glad that they’ve decided to expand their horizons and take advantage of the opportunity. They’re definitely turning what could be a negative into a positive.”
“It’s pretty cool to become a four-sport athlete, it kind of puts a silver lining on having the football season postponed,” said Steven Woods, Dave’s son, who also plays basketball in addition to running outdoor track in the spring. “I always said that if golf was in a different season I would have played it every year, so it’s really cool to be able to get out there and compete for the first time.”
“I’ve always looked up to multi-sport college athletes, and I figured this would be a really cool opportunity to expand my horizons and see how good I was at running cross country,” said Vargus, who also suits up in football, wrestling and lacrosse for the Crusaders. “It was extremely tough at first because I could barely run a mile, but now I’m running a 5K in under 22 minutes so I’ve been making a lot of progress.”
For Irizarry, who initially planned to focus on developing in football this fall before deciding to run cross country, the changes he discovered his new sport were a bit stark.
“It was a totally different feel running cross country because in the sports I play I’m used to quick bursts of running and sprinting, not extended running,” said Irizarry, who has played football and basketball for Fenwick and was planning on playing his first year of lacrosse last spring before the season was canceled. “But things have been going a lot smoother lately and I actually just broke my first personal record last week. It’s been really fun starting up a new sport, and it’s a great start to what should be an exciting year of sports for me.”
St. Mary’s also has a four-sport athlete this year in sophomore Jackson Field. Having already played football, basketball and lacrosse as a freshman at St. Mary’s, Field — whose father Josh is the boys lacrosse coach for the Spartans — jumped at the chance to play golf this fall after the football season was pushed to “Fall Sports II.”
“I’ve been playing golf for a long time now and I’ve really been looking forward to a chance to get out there and compete since we heard there wouldn’t be any football this fall,” said Field.
When asked out how he’ll juggle all the responsibilities that come with being a four-sport athlete, Field doesn’t seem too worried.
“I’ve been busy with sports my whole life, so this really isn’t anything new,” Field said. “I just have to take it one sport at a time and try to be the best I can be each day no matter what and just have fun with it.”
St. Mary’s athletic director Jeff Newhall is glad that players like Field get to expand their horizons by getting out and playing a new sport.
“I’m a firm believer that kids should be playing multiple sports,” said Newhall. “With the current situation we’re in, I think this presents a unique opportunity to not only play in four different seasons, but in most cases to try something that they haven’t competed in before.”
Elsewhere around the North Shore, other student-athletes are joining in on the fun.
Lynnfield’s Ava Buonfiglio decided to take up cross country once the volleyball season was delayed to “Fall Sports II,” and she’ll also play basketball and tennis this year.
“Coming into high school I had a few different options about what to play, whether it was volleyball or cross country or whatever, so it’s been really exciting to get to experience something new this fall,” said Buonfiglio. “It’s honestly harder for me to go day to day and have nothing to do than it is for me to juggle all these sports at the same time, so it’s really like second nature to me at this point.”
And this likely won’t be the end of players deciding to play a fourth sport this year. Come the end of February — when football and volleyball are slated to start in the “Fall Sports II” season — there could be a number of players who decide to pick up the pads or get out on the court for the first time.
