Return of extracurriculars like singing and volleyball has students 'delighted'

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District is allowing the return of school-based extracurricular activities next week with strict health guidelines in place and instructors say their students are thrilled.

On the north coast of Labrador, volleyball is a massive popular sport, and starting Tuesday, students will be able to get back on the court to compete.

Boas Mitsuk, a longtime volleyball coach in Hopedale, saidbefore the COVID-19 pandemic, kids would be in the gym playing almost every evening.

"It was the same for us growing up, even in the school system we used to play ball at least once or twice a day and this time of the year they'd be preparing for the annual fall meet, and volleyball was a big part of that fall meet, and that's something every student used to look for every new school year," he says.

Nobody said it was gonna be easy, that's for sure. But worth it, definitely.- Robert Colbourne

"Hopefully when they bring back volleyball it gives the students time to spend their downtime and wake up their bodies and just get out of the chairs and be able to relax and have a good time have good fun with each other."

Volleyball is more than just a sport to a lot of the kids, Mitsuk said; it's a healthy way to let them spend time together.

It's also something of a tradition, as younger kids would see their older relatives come back from competitions with championship banners, taking up their spots on the team when they were old enough.

Mitsuk said the kids in the community have felt the absence of the sport the last eight months.

"There was times I bumped into some of the athletes and I would ask what they were doing. Their main thing was they just missed going to the Nanuk [Community Centre] and not just for the sports but even just to hang out," he told CBC's Labrador Morning.

"Sports for them was a good way to help keep them busy, keep them away from bad influences."

'This is a passion'

For the musically inclined students, there will be more opportunities for them to flex their choral chops as well, as of Tuesday.

Extracurricular indoor choir practices and band rehearsals will be permitted in schools welcome news for Robert Colbourne, a music teacher at Holy Heart of Mary High School in St. John's.

"Our students are delighted, of course, to be able to get back to some sort of 'normal,' I guess," said Colbourne.

"We're certainly looking forward to being able to sing together again and to be able to do something that they really, really love doing, and that's making music together."

Since school started back up in September, the regular courses involving music and performance have been allowed to resume, but the changes on Tuesday will mean students that aren't necessarily in those classes will be able to get back to singingas well.

But it won't be without some vast differences to pre-pandemic programs, Colbourne said.

For every hour of rehearsal time, only 30 minutes is allowed to be spent singing. Everyone will need to wear a mask for the duration and be spaced two metres apart.

"We've had to be creative with ways to rehearse without actually singing, which means speaking some of the words of the music as opposed to singing them, humming parts of the music, clapping rhythms and things like that. So it certainly has been an interesting time," Colbourne said.

"Nobody said it was gonna be easy, that's for sure. But worth it, definitely."

Back in the summer, when it looked like choir and singing wouldn't be on the table when school started, Colbourne emailed parents of students to ask them why they loved singing so much.

"I was overwhelmed by 30 or 40 videos that were sent in to me of students and parents just pouring out their hearts about how important it is to sing," he told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

"Newfoundland and Labrador are certainly well known for their singing culture and their music, so it's important to me to make sure that we continue that tradition and to give students the opportunity to continue doing what they love to do."

Colbourne added that figuring out how to make singing happen was essential to give these students a creative outlet that's been restricted for so long.

"All members of the arts community are resilient and we certainly needed to come up with ways to be able to do what we love to do and to give our students, as educators, an opportunity to do what they love to do, which is make music together, but doing it in a different way," he said.

"This is a passion of mine and I really see the benefits of students singing together and doing something, coming together for a common good and to make something so beautiful, as the music that they're making."

Read morefromCBC Newfoundland and Labrador