Ever since the start of COVID, many student athletes have questioned whether they will be able to continue playing their sport. Last spring, COVID restrictions made AHS and other schools unable to continue their spring sports seasons. Slowly, restrictions began to lift over the summer and sports began to phase in again, but some limits remained.

At the start of the school year, with COVID still prevalent, the question remained on whether these limits would be able to be lifted so the sports seasons could continue as usual. Private schools, like Bishop Ireton, have chosen to allow sports seasons to start in winter.

This has caused many students to choose to transfer to a private school so their sports seasons would be available. Former A-Blast editorials editor Jane Elkins decided to transfer to Bishop Ireton for her junior year to play basketball.

“A big factor is that they are more likely to have a season then public school would,” Elkins said. “But with COVID you never know.”

The basketball program has been a huge competitor in this area for a long time.

“They have a strong basketball program,” Elkins said. “Bishop Ireton is a lot more competitive and all the players on my team play basketball outside of school.”

Bishop Ireton plays in the WCAC, Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, one of the best basketball conferences in the nation.

“Some of the best players in the country play in this conference,” Elkins said. “A lot of them have a bunch of D1 offers from top schools, and the competition across the board is a lot tougher.”

Bishop Ireton is also offering hybrid in-person learning to its students. This plan has half the school go in-person for two days while the other half is learning virtually and the other two days it reverses. 

“Adjusting has been pretty easy,” Elkins said. “But meeting new people is hard when you only meet half the class.”

Bishop Ireton’s academic structure is also different from Annandale’s. Bishop Ireton has an AP program instead of an IB program.

“At first it was a little difficult adjusting from being an IB diploma candidate to a full AP student, but now classes are pretty easy” Elkins said. “Compared to Annandale the workload is a lot less.”

Elkins, along with other students who decided to transfer, are ultimately happy with their decision.