It was the first volleyball game of the season and the mixture of excitement and nerves could be felt throughout the gym. I walked over to the scoring table with my coach and other teammate for the captain’s meeting. I held out my hand to shake with the captain from Seaman High School — the usual courtesy of introducing ourselves and showing good sportsmanship. But I was quickly told something along the lines of, “Oh, no we don’t want to shake hands with you because of all the sickness going around.”  I withdrew my hand and thought nothing of it.

However, in the game of volleyball both teams approach the net before and after the game to say ‘good luck’ or ‘good game.’ Instead of high-fiving the other team while saying this, we had to wave at them.

As everyone in Manhattan knows, the high school has had some trouble with what is being called the “plague.” Along with the nausea, colds and allergies are keeping students from coming to school in order to maintain their health. I understand that Seaman was just aiming to keep all of their players healthy. Throughout the game our team was touching the volleyball all the time and therefore germs could be exchanged that way, by the logic that they were going by.

In order to keep the germs from the ball away, the team passed around hand sanitizer each time they stepped off the court.

The reasoning behind all of this excessive cleansing was that our team was “potentially contagious.” Now, any sport that you participate in requires good health and a good amount of physical exertion. If we were sick ourselves the possibility to partake in a game would be ridiculous. The potential for a handshake to spread an illness that none of the players contain is extremely slim, if not impossible.  In regards to us being carriers, it would be quite possible considering how sick students have been. Being a carrier does not mean that by shaking hands it will spread the illness. The most likely way to get sick would be sharing a drink, which would not happen. Especially with the hand sanitizer ready for use, the team very well could have shaken our hands and then put hand sanitizer on before starting the game. It would have been showing better sportsmanship, but also allow the team to feel protected.  

Manhattan High School does not have a disease that will wipe out an entire volleyball team. We do not have a legitimate plague that could easily be passed from one person to the next from a single handshake. Stop treating our school like we need to be under quarantine.

The other team we played that night was Junction City. J.C. is less than 30 minutes away, and the rivalry is strong. I figured that they would not be as hung up on shaking hands as Seaman, but boy was I wrong. We waved at each other once again, because of our “possibly contagious” hands. Come on Junction, if you were going to get the same illnesses that we have you would have gotten them by now.

Yes, our school had a ton of people sent home due to being sick. However, opposing schools should not treat us differently.

The football game against Washburn Rural had the theme of “Doctor Out” for the same reason. Although the theme was changed to “When I Grow Up,” most of the students still showed up in scrubs and germ masks. I will admit, it was a clever and funny way to make a joke without being disrespectful, but let’s all be mature within 6A school’s and keep good sportsmanship. I promise you will not come down with the black plague off of a high five.