The goal for bringing competitive sports back to Sunnyside and campuses throughout the lower valley has challenged student athletes, parents, coaches and administrators’ resiliency but their commitment to be ready to play when the state’s Roadmap to Recovery plan benchmarks were met, remained confidently strong. Their unwavering efforts were rewarded after Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday in a tweet, ”Due to a reporting error made by a hospital, the (South) Central region was the only one that didn't move to Phase 2 this week. I'm glad the hospital found the error, reported it and now the region can move ahead. This means our entire state is now in Phase 2.” In Phase 2, high school sports leagues can begin their modified fall sports season with football being the only COVID-19 high-risk sport. Sunnyside High School begins full contact practice on Tuesday, Feb, 16. The rest of the fall sports team will start the following week. Football pads will be passed out on Monday, Feb. 15, beginning with seniors at noon, followed by juniors, sophomores and freshmen every 40 minutes, according to Varsity Head Coach John Lobbestael. “There were people saying that it was never going to happen; don’t do it, don’t put your kids through this and kids could have bought into that and they didn’t. They said okay, we’ll practice, it’s fun anyway. And now, here we are today,” SHS Student Life and Athletic Director Dave Martinez during an interview on Feb. 14. Resiliency is one of the school’s core values and that ability to quickly overcome adversity has been demonstrated by the ongoing and engaging actions of students, teachers, staff and parents during the pandemic. Parents are the ones that have their students at home and they recognize how important it is for them to experience the overwhelming positive feelings associated from participating in athletics and activities, Martinez acknowledged. “We still need to be smart about how we do things. The last thing we want to do now is lose something that we have.”