As it has with so many other facets of daily life, the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening to take away a vital aspect of every school community: Fall Sports. Soccer, football, and cross country all seem to be on the verge of being cancelled in St. Louis County and City.  Jimmy Grumich must have felt that momentum building because on Monday September 7^th, he posted this petition on change.org, https://www.change.org/p/st-louis-county-health-department-allow-st-louis-county-to-play-fall-sports .

Grumich used this platform to advocate on behalf of athletes in the area, “We, the student-athletes and adherents to fall sports and activities in St. Louis County, petition for the Department of Public Health to allow schools to begin competing in fall sports.” His central claim is that the low number of cases among students across the county along with the recommendations of the St. Louis Sports Medicine Covid-19 Task Force warrant the approval of actual games to be played, “Every school in St. Louis County, including K-12 and both public and private, reported ONLY 39 students testing positive for COVID-19 in the month of August.”

As a senior and member of the football team, Jimmy’s petition points out that time is a considerable factor in the desire to play, “Every week that goes by without competing is another week gone that high school student-athletes will never get back.”

His petition caught like wildfire and had well over 5,000 signatures in the initial 72 hours. Students and Parents from all over St. Louis pledged support citing various reasons for signing, but they all shared one central goal: play fall sports. Jimmy’s petition became so popular that multiple St. Louis media outlets, including the Post Dispatch, wrote about the story.  At the time of publication, Jimmy’s petition has nearly 16,000 signatures.  The Lamourous House Captain declined to speak to local new networks.

While at this point in time it remains unclear whether games will be played, it is certain that Jimmy Grumich has done his part to let teams play.