Hundreds Gather To Rally For Youth Sports To Return To School

WEST ISLIP, NY — Hundreds gathered at a rally in West Islip last week to ask for youth sports to be allowed to play at local school fields. Long Island school sports have been on hold since March, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all schools to be closed. In August, Cuomo announced that as part of his reopening plan, low risk youth sports such tennis, soccer, cross-country, field hockey and swimming can resume practicing and games. Last month Suffolk County Section XI's Athletic Council voted to postpone the fall season and condense all three seasons — fall, winter, spring — from January through June.

Last Thursday, an estimated 150 to 200 people attended a rally held at Beach Street Middle School to show support for reinstating youth sports at school fields. In addition to the rally, a petition was also circulating around the community to allow fellow parents to express their concern with not allowing youth sports at West Islip fields.

Photo courtesy of Joseph Tobia

According to local resident, Joseph Tobia, who attended the event, West Islip school officials acknowledged the petition and Superintendent Bernadette Burns said the district was looking into it at a recent board of education meeting. However, according to Tobia, the general feeling is that the "district was looking to delay the process."

"Safety guidelines have been put out by the individual youth sport clubs and they have been followed since we were able to start playing," he told Patch. "The district had little to no answer on why they were unable to issue the permits. At this point all the leg work has been completed for the district in regards to returning to play."

According to the petition, several other districts have begun to issue permits for their youth teams, but since West Islip School District has not allowed teams to play on school fields, this has led to extremely crowded fields within the Town of Islip, including at Casamento Park. The petition claims that the town fields are "incapable" of supporting the volume of youth sports in the West Islip community.

Photo courtesy of Joseph Tobia