The Class of 2023 was among the more impacted groups of students from the COVID pandemic, at least as it relates to sports.

This past year's seniors were sent home about three-quarters of the way through their freshman year and student-athletes lost the entire spring sports season. Some may have found places to play for the summer but largely, those opportunities in Illinois were non-existent.

Then there was a battle for sports in the fall of 2020 and ultimately the fall football season did not happen, the winter sports season didn't get started until after the first of the year 2021 and was extremely abbreviated, and the fall sports season was packed into a short six-week window in the spring, and then the spring sports season was packed into a short two-month season that overlapped with the summer before sports returned to normal in the fall 2021. 

Area high school sports administrators are reporting varying reports on how that up-and-down and uncertainty impacted this year's senior class which lost a lot of the natural evolution and progression the sports calendar offers. Athletic Director at Argenta-Oreana Schools Mike Williams indicates it certainly has impacted their school's ability to get enough kids into the programs.

Maroa-Forsyth Schools Athletic Director Phil Applebee gives his students a lot of credit saying they may handle the pandemic better than most of the adults.

Monticello Schools Athletic Director Dan Sheehan believes the one thing their student-athletes benefitted from was the fact they were a very close-knit group and were able to lean on each other in those uncertain times.

With the high school sports calendar back to normal, there have since been two normal sports seasons on the calendar with no restrictions.