As worried as CHS athletes already are about how sports will operate during the pandemic, how they will properly receive their PE credits is another overwhelming factor that worries athletes even more. Sports seasons fall in one of two possibilities: postponed or cancelled. As their stress, anxiety, and confusion continues to increase steadily, many athletes must come to the conclusion on how they will fulfill their PE credit requirements in order to graduate.
The PE credit system can be an intertwining and difficult maze to figure out. Every CHS freshman must take a PE course. After taking this course for one school year, students will be awarded ten credits. In order to graduate, student-athletes must have a minimum of 20 credits. As a freshman, students can decide whether they’d want to try-out for any specific sport or not. If so, each season, otherwise known as each school year equates to 2.5 credits. Participating in a sport for four years will correspond to ten sports credits, allowing student-athletes to graduate. If students do not participate in sports, then they must opt

in for another PE class in order to gain the ten missing credits.
“I think that if a student is normally an athlete and they know they will play a sport they should go to that sport and get involved in the Phase 1 Conditioning to get their credits that way,” athletic director Mike Collins said, “But here’s the thing: Some parents and some students don’t feel good or don’t want to go to Phase 1 Conditioning; they would prefer not to go. If that’s the case then yes, I would say…I can’t give them credit if they’re not out there. But if they choose not to go with their team, they can always go for the online PE class.”
Many different sports cannot have games, and could just have Phase 1 Conditioning practices, which is, by all odds, unfortunate. In these cases, athletes or students trying out for sports possibly will be in confusion on how they will fulfill their credit requirements. In order for athletes to receive their seasonal credits, they are required to attend Phase 1 Conditioning practices.
Surprisingly, consistent practices still occur to this day during the pandemic. Mike Collins explains how Phase 1 Conditioning practices are proceeding.
“If you came up here at 3 o’clock, you would see cross-country, you would see football…” Collins said, “You know, in groups of 10. You would see baseball, and you would see softball as well.”
According to Collins, these practices implement pods of ten students, masks, daily temperature and COVID-19 tests, and social distancing. If athletes make a decision to not frequently attend those practices, then they would have to opt in for an online PE class sooner or later.
While confusion arose, so did the stress that came with it. These refined systems may be beneficial to sports and student-athletes, yet it may still cause sadness that seasons are not going as well as hoped. Whether or not games occur, credits will still be given and if practices are not attended, PE classes are open as an alternative option. This will successfully allow athletes and students alike to peacefully graduate high school and to see what the future has in store for them.