New Year Starts For High Schools
July 1, 2020 at 2:31 a.m.
New Year Starts For High Schools
By Roger Grossman-
July 1 is when the 2020-21 high school sports calendar officially begins.
This week is a little different than most years. This is where “moratorium week” usually falls. That’s the one week of the year where high school sports shut down — no contact, no team camps and no organized activities.
Because of all that’s happened since the second week of March, the IHSAA has cancelled that mandatory no-contact week and coaches and athletes can start meeting as school facilities re-open today.
But, even though the state is supposed to enter Stage 5 this weekend and be fully “re-opened”, its high school athletes are still going to have to deal with restrictions related to the pandemic.
If you are a parent or guardian of an athlete, you’ve likely already seen the stages for those restrictions that are currently scheduled to ease off at the end of July — just in time for girls golf teams to start playing matches and the rest of the fall sports squads to start their preseason practices.
I only have so much space to write here in the paper, so I won’t bog you down with all of those specifics.
I will, however, repeat something I said earlier this year in this space, and that is that the products in every sport but golf and cross country will likely not be as crisp and polished as anybody would want.
Here’s hoping we all get to see that first-hand, because even if games are played there is no guarantee that fans will be allowed to attend (that’s another column for another day).
For the purpose of this discussion, let’s assume the best case scenario — August comes and we are a full go for teams to start their official preseasons. We will find in that moment which individual athletes were self-disciplined and creative enough during the pandemic to be able to get up-to-speed before their season gets too far in their rear view mirror.
I also would expect to see raw talent win out over guile and training. It won’t mean coaches haven’t been doing their jobs, but they were so limited in what they could do to start with.
One of the things that has to be affected is personnel assessment. Who is the new quarterback going to be? Who is going to step in at center mid-fielder for the soccer team? Which of the young setters are best suited to run the volleyball coach’s offensive scheme?
Those questions don’t always get answered in the summer, but coaches have a pretty good clue of where to start based on what happens in June and July. Half that time has been lost, and what is possible in July does not put anyone in a good position come opening day of practice.
It’s no one’s fault, it’s just what ‘is’ and everyone has to play by the same rules.
Of course, that’s an aspect of this conversation, too. Is there a coach in Indiana who has dared to have practices and activities outside of what has been allowed? A basketball team, for example, that’s been working on new plays in, say, the outbuilding of one of the player’s houses that has a court in it.
I am not accusing anyone of anything here, it’s just an example and you get my drift.
I’d like to think not, but one never knows in 2020.
Just know that players and coaches have been working as hard as they can and, starting today, now have access to school facilities again.
We’ll just all pray that we don’t have to go through what we went through in the spring. Losing football or having reduced attendance or no attendance will crush athletic departments—not for this school year but for years to come.
We are walking up to a fork in the road of high school sports on this first day of July, 2020.
If you claim to know what will happen, you’re either a fool or you’re crazy.
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July 1 is when the 2020-21 high school sports calendar officially begins.
This week is a little different than most years. This is where “moratorium week” usually falls. That’s the one week of the year where high school sports shut down — no contact, no team camps and no organized activities.
Because of all that’s happened since the second week of March, the IHSAA has cancelled that mandatory no-contact week and coaches and athletes can start meeting as school facilities re-open today.
But, even though the state is supposed to enter Stage 5 this weekend and be fully “re-opened”, its high school athletes are still going to have to deal with restrictions related to the pandemic.
If you are a parent or guardian of an athlete, you’ve likely already seen the stages for those restrictions that are currently scheduled to ease off at the end of July — just in time for girls golf teams to start playing matches and the rest of the fall sports squads to start their preseason practices.
I only have so much space to write here in the paper, so I won’t bog you down with all of those specifics.
I will, however, repeat something I said earlier this year in this space, and that is that the products in every sport but golf and cross country will likely not be as crisp and polished as anybody would want.
Here’s hoping we all get to see that first-hand, because even if games are played there is no guarantee that fans will be allowed to attend (that’s another column for another day).
For the purpose of this discussion, let’s assume the best case scenario — August comes and we are a full go for teams to start their official preseasons. We will find in that moment which individual athletes were self-disciplined and creative enough during the pandemic to be able to get up-to-speed before their season gets too far in their rear view mirror.
I also would expect to see raw talent win out over guile and training. It won’t mean coaches haven’t been doing their jobs, but they were so limited in what they could do to start with.
One of the things that has to be affected is personnel assessment. Who is the new quarterback going to be? Who is going to step in at center mid-fielder for the soccer team? Which of the young setters are best suited to run the volleyball coach’s offensive scheme?
Those questions don’t always get answered in the summer, but coaches have a pretty good clue of where to start based on what happens in June and July. Half that time has been lost, and what is possible in July does not put anyone in a good position come opening day of practice.
It’s no one’s fault, it’s just what ‘is’ and everyone has to play by the same rules.
Of course, that’s an aspect of this conversation, too. Is there a coach in Indiana who has dared to have practices and activities outside of what has been allowed? A basketball team, for example, that’s been working on new plays in, say, the outbuilding of one of the player’s houses that has a court in it.
I am not accusing anyone of anything here, it’s just an example and you get my drift.
I’d like to think not, but one never knows in 2020.
Just know that players and coaches have been working as hard as they can and, starting today, now have access to school facilities again.
We’ll just all pray that we don’t have to go through what we went through in the spring. Losing football or having reduced attendance or no attendance will crush athletic departments—not for this school year but for years to come.
We are walking up to a fork in the road of high school sports on this first day of July, 2020.
If you claim to know what will happen, you’re either a fool or you’re crazy.
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