Nashua student-athletes will no longer be required to wear masks during athletic compeition in most cases, thanks to a Board of Education reversal Monday of an earlier mask mandate vote. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras was standing on the sidelines of a high school girls lacrosse game Monday night at Stellos Stadium.

And there was a vibe she sensed.

“Both teams,” Gingras said, “are very excited not to have masks on on the field.”

The student athletes had that option to not wear the masks thanks to a Board of Education vote earlier Monday evening that allowed masks to be removed, as Gingras relayed, “during competition any time that they are strenuously active.”

However, coaches, staff, spectators and anyone on the sidelines are still required to wear masks, Gingras said.

Also, if Nashua teams are playing schools who still require their athletes to wear masks during competition, then the Nashua teams will also be required to wear them, Gingras said.

For example, Manchester is still requiring mask of its student-athletes, so Gingras said that when South and Memorial square off in baseball today both teams will have masks on.

What prompted the change? Gingras informed the board that the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Associaton had changed mask wearing during the upcoming postseason tournaments from a “requirement” to a “recommendation.”

Gingras notified the board, and since the board had earlier this spring voted for the athletes mask mandate, as Gingras said, “They were the only ones who could undo it.”

When the approval for spring sports was granted via Board of Ed vote, the only real athletes able to not wear masks were hurdlers and pole vaulters in track and field. It was a safety decision as it was determined, as Gingras told the board back then, the masks might hinder their vision.

There were no incidents, this spring, Gingras said, of any athletes seriously struggling to breathe with the masks.

“Fortunately we haven’t had any serious situations with students collapsing,” Ginrgras said.

However, the timing for this change could not have been better, some feel, as the weather is supposed to heat up later this week.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” Gingras said. “I think with everything that’s going on right now, there’s no more state mask mandate, the CDC is saying you don’t have to wear them outside and the CDC is even saying fully vaccinated people don’t have to wear them indoors.

“So I think it’s the right thing. All of our spring sports are outside. It’s getting hotter. The kids are exerting themselves. They have the option. It’s a personal decision for each player with his or her parents.”