Football Players, Coaches, Parents Ask DC Mayor To Resume Games

GEORGETOWN, DC — Area high school seniors hoping to play football at the next level know how important it is to have game film to show college recruiters exactly what they can do on the field. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, many DC student-athletes haven't been able to play football in months, which means there's no film. As the end of their senior year draws close, these students and their parents are panicking.

“The [players] didn’t have their spring evaluation period — which is [when] all the colleges are on the road, coming by schools, watching kids workout, [and] watching film. [Players] didn’t get that opportunity because of COVID,” Minoso Rodgers, head football coach at Woodrow Wilson High School in Ward 3, told DCist.

Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an executive order in December banning high contact sports, including football, from practice and competitions. Then in January, the DC State Athletic Association canceled fall and winter sports championships because Bowser's order ran through mid-March.

According to DCist, a dozen parents and six football coaches met virtually recently to map out a course of action. District of Columbia Public School student-athletes, their parents and coaches are seeking a lift on Bowser's restrictions to allow players to practice and play games to that they can accrue game film to share with college football recruiters and coaches. They plan to flood the mayor's office with letters and will be creating a social media campaign and an online petition. Bowser's office has not yet commented on their request to allow players to practice and play games.