As Lee schools work to reopen from Hurricane Ian, volleyball matches bring sense of normalcy

Look inside the South Fort Myers High gym Thursday night and you'd see balloons, fuzzy crowns, and smiles as the Wolfpack volleyball team celebrated its seniors during a match against Evangelical Christian.

The scene only seven days earlier was a lot different as the same gym was crowded with air mattresses, people wrapped in blankets, and anxiety as it housed those displaced by Hurricane Ian.

Although South had not been cleared by the Lee County School District to have students return to classes until next Wednesday, it was one of four county high school gyms to welcome back volleyball teams Thursday night. The school district set nine criteria to determine if a school is safe to open and on Thursday announced the only high schools of the districts 15 to reach that standard were Cypress Lake and Ida Baker, which reopen Tuesday. Nine more will open Wednesday, including South.

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"It means everything you know," South Fort Myers principal Ed Matthews said. "Think about you're a senior, a junior, I mean, even our freshman, sophomores for you to have your life, you know, turned upside down the past two weeks. And hey, I get to come back and play sports and be in my high school again, it means everything."

South housed around 1,000 people at its sheltering peak and served as a safe haven for 11 days with the final Hurricane Ian victims leaving Oct. 7, according to Matthews. That was significantly less than the estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people that showed up the night Hurricane Irma hit in 2017, but people only stayed for a couple of nights.

Edwards credited his staff, many of whom stayed throughout the storm to run the shelter, the school district, and an outside vendor for cleaning his school and getting it ready for volleyball as the process continues to prepare for the return of its full student body.

"For the gym itself, you know, they have a checklist of everything they want, it's a big difference between having 2,000 people in school, a full kitchen, there's a lot of different things that are attached to it. For us just to have this athletic event, you know, here tonight, we can do it," Matthews said.

The school district decided to allow the matches while schools were closed because of their short duration and the fact that no one was forced to play.

"We are allowing schools to host volleyball games before they are cleared to open because the contests are only an hour, coaches and student-athletes have made the choice to participate, and fans are attending voluntarily," district spokesperson Rob Spicker wrote in an email.

For South Fort Myers senior Andrea Diaz, it was a welcome distraction even though her team lost in three close sets to ECS. She said her parents have been busy with their home, which was damaged, and was glad they were able to be at her Senior Night match. However, she admitted it was strange that she still doesn't know when she'll be back in school.

"It's my last year so I was hoping we had like a full season but we didn't," Diaz said. "But at least we had our Senior Night.

"It's kind of weird because like it's different timings and then it's just like I want to go back to school, not be home and stressing over like what's happening, but also we have a lot going on at home to even bother to come to school and stress more," Diaz said.

South Fort Myers parent Christopher Wicks admitted he had mixed feelings sitting in the South gym watching volleyball.

"Mainly because the kids had to deal with COVID-19, so they lost time there and now they’re losing time because of this. My son is a senior here, so his sophomore, junior and senior years were all impacted by things outside of his control. At the same time, it somewhat shows the resiliency of the city, it shows the quick action, that there’s a plan and strategy. That the city government is working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. That makes you feel good as a parent as well."

Added parent Trish Wallzs, "I’m confused. I can only assume because people have been in this gymnasium that it’s enough to be able to use the gym but not enough to be in the classrooms. They’ll figure things out and let us know what we can do as we get further into it."

Over at Gateway High, the Eagles edged East Lee County in four sets on an unconventional Senior Night.

It wasn’t quite “back to normal” with schools not yet open, and, more meaningfully for the Eagles, head coach Corey Gallant was absent as he continues to deal with the storm’s aftermath.

“The girls played for him,” said assistant coach Brooke Craft, who stepped into the head coach role.

Gateway senior Maya Williams had mixed feelings – happy to be able to celebrate Senior Night but disappointed about how Hurricane Ian affected her final high school season.

“I’m sure (Gallant)’s proud of us back home,” she said. “He’s been a really good coach this year, especially for being new. He really encouraged me to play my best and, compared to last year, I’ve made some big improvements, and it’s because of him.”

The Eagles do not know if Gallant will be back for districts.

“We take it minute-by-minute,” Craft said.

Craft described the return to practice as surreal after the team hadn’t been together for more than two weeks. Monday was a “fun” practice, she let team captains run things on Tuesday and they began to work more on techniques and fundamentals on Wednesday.

“I was a little nervous because I didn’t know if I was going to play rusty,” Williams said.

It was also unique for the students to be playing while not in school, but the Senior Night atmosphere meant a good crowd for the Eagles.

“This is a nice little transition for the kids, whether it’s the fans or the players – they get to get back on campus, see their friends without being thrown in a classroom,” Gateway athletic director Michael Dubbelde said.

Evangelical Christian athletic director Chris Harris had a unique perspective being back in the South Fort Myers gym Thursday since he was the Wolfpack AD up until the summer when he left to join the Sentinels. He was not surprised South was able to get things ready to play because of the staff and administration at the school.

The ECS team started practicing in their auxiliary gym Monday and will be back in school this coming Monday, but he said playing Thursday was good for the students.

"It kind of reminds me of COVID days when we were just trying to get the kids back to some normalcy," Harris said. "You know, the kids have been in the house, you don't know if they've been displaced, you don't know what they've been through. So it's good to get the kids back involved around their friends, around their coaches, you know, get back to what they love doing and that's playing volleyball."

While holding her senior balloons, South player Alexandra Seijas was grateful for her chance to be around her teammates again but was proud her school was a focal point of hurricane relief despite any inconvenience.

"It's great to see how this school was such a big help during the hurricane for people who need it," she said. "I like seeing we were coming together as a community helping everyone."

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Lee schools not yet cleared to open for classes hold volleyball matches