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Student athletes at Beverly Vista Middle School (BVMS) are learning what it means to be “good sports.” The new (opened in August 2019) school had just wrapped up its winter inaugural basketball season when the COVID-19 closures took place. 

“We were all first-year teachers in this scenario,” Co-Athletic Director Kelly Park, who has been a P.E. teacher for over 30 years, told the Courier. “We had a full-on fall season that was fabulous.” This included girls’ volleyball, flag football and cross-country. The winter season was girls’ and boys’ basketball, which they were able to compete at the beginning of March. 

Park and her staff were in the process of completing try-outs and compiling the final roster for spring sports (boys’ and girls’ soccer plus track and field) when district schools shut down on March 12. That didn’t stop the BVMS athletics department from celebrating with one last hurrah on May 27 with an awards ceremony on Zoom. 

“Seeing the kids for the award ceremony was pretty special,” said Todd Radonsky co-athletic director for BVMS. “It brought everyone back to the moment when we were at school and all together in one spot.” 

For Park, the inaugural year at BVMS has been filled with highlights. “To watch them put on a BVMS uniform and have them walk into a gym or on a field representing a middle school that never existed before, it was thrilling for me every time,” she recalled. “It was exciting because we were part of building something brand new and we hope to continue to do that.”

BVMA is not equipped with a gym for volleyball and the football field is too small, so the teams need to travel for every game. One of the potential changes when the athletic program resumes (and that date is still up in the air) will be scheduling some games at Beverly Hills High School. 

In a normal year, fall sports will include flag-football, girls’ volleyball and cross country. “If that season is modified or doesn’t happen then I believe we would look forward to a winter sports season,” said Park. “Whether they would just push it back or start with basketball in the winter? Who knows? We are in unchartered waters on all levels,” she said. Rodonsky added, “I hope we get immunization and then we can move on. I want to continue this at full bore and next spring be back to normal.”