By: CAMERON ASHFORD
Staff Writer
As of Tuesday morning, (September 21, 2021), the VUSD school board came to a closed conclusion that all outdoor sports in every grade level of the district would have their practices canceled due to the horrible air quality surrounding the Central Valley. The school board also ruled the air quality to be too dangerous to run or workout in. The cause of this terrible air quality was due to the multiple wildfires surrounding the Central Valley. Fires such as the Porterville fire and the Three Rivers fire have polluted Visalia’s air with immaculately large chunks of ash. The ash was so thick that students of El Diamante High School have described the air to smell like a “Live Barbeque”. Even though these fires were miles away, VUSD athletes and students were definitely facing the consequences because of them. On Tuesday, VUSD athletes and coaches were given the opportunity to stretch or practice indoors if they had a safe facility or classroom to do so. Also for all of the high schools weight rooms were kept unlocked, but the doors needed to be closed for extra safety precautions. At the moment all students are unaware when they will be able to practice outdoors again. Many students, teachers, and coaches believe that we will be able to practice very soon and that we need to just “Wait it out”. Other than that, VUSD’s athletes are eager to get back out there and win some games/meets for their schools.