High School Sports Begins…Maybe
August 5, 2020 at 1:37 a.m.
High School Sports Begins…Maybe
By Roger Grossman-
They were kicking soccer balls, pounding volleyballs across a net and getting fitted for their pads and helmets. There is conditioning occurring this week, although not as much as there used to be because coaches expect you to do that on your own before you show up to that first practice.
However, there is one physical activity that all players, all coaches, all athletic department staff members, all broadcasters and sports writers and all fans are participating in—holding our breath.
We are hoping beyond all hope that the Coronavirus doesn’t extend a winning streak it has over high school sports that started with the ultimate cancellation of the high school boys’ basketball state tournament.
For Indianapolis North Central, the fall sports season ended well before Monday. Their school board announced that their school wouldn’t have fall sports.
That announcement sent shock waves through the state, because they were the first to do it.
There was a moment two weeks ago when it looked like all of Marion County would be sports-free for the fall, but reports that Marion County would be banned from having activities this fall were premature.
It’s a really awkward position to be in: everyone has been working toward Monday’s first day of official practices and the August 15th start of official games and matches (except for girls golf, who could start having matches this week) not knowing if they would get to play one game, a full season or no games at all.
I think it’s like getting ready for an outdoor event and there is a 50-50 chance of rain. You have to get ready for it as if it was going to happen as planned, not knowing what is going to happen at all. If you don’t do that, and it doesn’t rain, you aren’t prepared. If it does rain and you fully prepared, you feel like you prepped for nothing.
There has been a lot of discussion about swapping the fall sports with the spring sports or running them both at the same time. The point would be to move the money-generating football season to the spring and move sports like baseball and softball (which allow athletes to be more socially distant than some others) to the fall.
However, there are so many pitfalls to that concept.
Does a high school football or volleyball player (for example) who is going to college to play that sport want to play spring football/volleyball, knowing that if they suffer a serious injury it’s probably not going to be repaired in time for them to play for their college team in the fall?
What does a two-sport athlete do when the two sports they play are going on at the same time? We’re not talking about football kickers who play soccer here. We’re talking about football players who run track. We’re talking cross country runners who run the 3200 for the track team.
It’s patently unfair to ask kids to make a choice, and it’s also unfair to the coaches and teammates of the team they don’t choose.
Rochester has suspended fall sports because they say students attended large gatherings that put everyone at risk. The school’s statement on why they are shutting things down for now is unusually candid—this is “due to students attending end-of-summer celebrations and a number of exposures to persons testing positive for COVID-19.” It goes on to say the Rochester will start the year in e-learning mode.
It ends by saying “please allow us to educate your children by cooperating.”
Adams County Schools released a statement saying that senior athletes will be allowed to invite four people to their home events, and no one else gets in.
So we prepare. We prepare to play and we prepare to broadcast.
But will there be any fruits for that labor?
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They were kicking soccer balls, pounding volleyballs across a net and getting fitted for their pads and helmets. There is conditioning occurring this week, although not as much as there used to be because coaches expect you to do that on your own before you show up to that first practice.
However, there is one physical activity that all players, all coaches, all athletic department staff members, all broadcasters and sports writers and all fans are participating in—holding our breath.
We are hoping beyond all hope that the Coronavirus doesn’t extend a winning streak it has over high school sports that started with the ultimate cancellation of the high school boys’ basketball state tournament.
For Indianapolis North Central, the fall sports season ended well before Monday. Their school board announced that their school wouldn’t have fall sports.
That announcement sent shock waves through the state, because they were the first to do it.
There was a moment two weeks ago when it looked like all of Marion County would be sports-free for the fall, but reports that Marion County would be banned from having activities this fall were premature.
It’s a really awkward position to be in: everyone has been working toward Monday’s first day of official practices and the August 15th start of official games and matches (except for girls golf, who could start having matches this week) not knowing if they would get to play one game, a full season or no games at all.
I think it’s like getting ready for an outdoor event and there is a 50-50 chance of rain. You have to get ready for it as if it was going to happen as planned, not knowing what is going to happen at all. If you don’t do that, and it doesn’t rain, you aren’t prepared. If it does rain and you fully prepared, you feel like you prepped for nothing.
There has been a lot of discussion about swapping the fall sports with the spring sports or running them both at the same time. The point would be to move the money-generating football season to the spring and move sports like baseball and softball (which allow athletes to be more socially distant than some others) to the fall.
However, there are so many pitfalls to that concept.
Does a high school football or volleyball player (for example) who is going to college to play that sport want to play spring football/volleyball, knowing that if they suffer a serious injury it’s probably not going to be repaired in time for them to play for their college team in the fall?
What does a two-sport athlete do when the two sports they play are going on at the same time? We’re not talking about football kickers who play soccer here. We’re talking about football players who run track. We’re talking cross country runners who run the 3200 for the track team.
It’s patently unfair to ask kids to make a choice, and it’s also unfair to the coaches and teammates of the team they don’t choose.
Rochester has suspended fall sports because they say students attended large gatherings that put everyone at risk. The school’s statement on why they are shutting things down for now is unusually candid—this is “due to students attending end-of-summer celebrations and a number of exposures to persons testing positive for COVID-19.” It goes on to say the Rochester will start the year in e-learning mode.
It ends by saying “please allow us to educate your children by cooperating.”
Adams County Schools released a statement saying that senior athletes will be allowed to invite four people to their home events, and no one else gets in.
So we prepare. We prepare to play and we prepare to broadcast.
But will there be any fruits for that labor?
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