The Minnesota State High School League plan to modify the high school sports schedule for the coming academic year balances the need for health safety and the need to nurture young people with some normalcy in these pandemic times.

Shifting so-called “high risk” pandemic-spread activities of football and volleyball to the spring makes sense given the close contact required in those sports. Keeping soccer, tennis and cross country in the fall with limits on the number of teams and number of games and matches is a good way to minimize the risk.

Young people get the COVID-19 virus just as much if not more than other age groups, but the science suggests they usually get much milder cases of the virus and can recover more easily. Still, there is risk. That must be balanced against the psychological toll that young people have faced since last March when school, sports and activities were shut down so quickly that it was a shock to a person’s system.

The prolonged stay-at-home orders, the challenge of distance learning and the complete elimination of social activities also has taken its toll on young people. Sports and activity resumption will give them some relief.

Of course, playing football in spring will be different and not as much fun for players and fans alike. Minnesotans will miss watching football on beautiful fall evenings.

But these are challenging times. The novel coronavirus has proven to be vicious, attacking the lungs and other vital organs in life-threatening ways. Some 150,000 U.S. dead in a matter of months is a grim reminder for what we face.

The league rules allow all the teams to play in some capacity. That will be the best result. Normalcy can go a long way in a pandemic.

— The Free Press of Mankato