BENNETT'S MINUTES (FREE ACCESS): Loss of June clouding near future of prep sports

Thursday, April 30, 2020
High school gymnasiums like Greencastle’s McAnally Center are normally bustling with activity in the month of June, but they won’t be this year due to COVID-19.
Contributed photo

County ADs hopeful crisis will be solved

Many high school coaches consider June as the most important month of the year, even though no official game or meet competitions take place.

Gymnasiums are normally hotbeds of activity with basketball and volleyball teams taking turns with court time and athletes from many other sports passing through on their way to and from the weight room, pool or indoor batting cages in case of bad weather.

Any uncertainty over the status for June this year was cleared up on Wednesday, when state education superintendent Dr. Jennifer McCormick released a video containing “Information and Updates to Indiana Schools Related to COVID-19.”

In the video, McCormick announced that all school facilities are “shut down” through the end of June in a declaration that hasn’t seemed to get the kind of play on social media that it deserves.

“We’ve had a lot of people to start asking ‘can I bring athletics back?’ or ‘can I open up the weight room?’,” she said. “No. Your schools and facilities are shut down until June 30. We do not have any further guidance at this point. Once we do, we will let you know. But until June 30 you are shut down.”

McCormick said that restriction includes summer school academic courses, but food distribution to needy families and pickup of electronic devices or personal items from lockers or classrooms is permissible.

The effect

Like many administrators, Greencastle athletic director Doug Greenlee was a part of the IHSAA District 3 online meeting for principals and ADs.

The meeting lasted more than two hours, and viewers were able to call in to ask questions.

The IHSAA normally observes a one-week “moratorium week” during the summer months in which no athletic activities of any kind are permitted. This week usually occurs whenever the July 4 holiday falls, and allows families a chance to take a vacation if they choose without their children missing out on sports activities.

This summer, obviously, will be far from normal.

The moratorium is scheduled to begin this year on Sunday, June 28, and run through Saturday, July 4 — meaning that the first two weekdays of the break are already covered by the shutdown.

“The IHSAA was asked if it was going to relax the rules on the moratorium week to get July back,” Greenlee said. “The response was that the IHSAA would look at that possibility, but they would have to consider how many families might have already scheduled vacations for that time.”

North Putnam athletic director Roger Busch thinks coaches need to prepare themselves for a likely fallout due to the reduced practice time this summer.

“Outside of football, I think the other sports will be OK,” he said. “Is it going to be at the level where we set our expectations? Maybe, maybe not. I think in football it’s more of a safety issue than are they going to be ready to play a game. Making sure that new kids and young kids understand the way the game should be played so they don’t get hurt. The returners and the kids who have played football a long time should be OK.”

Greenlee said the decision to shut down the schools didn’t surprise him, and he’s OK with the loss of June if that’s what it takes to get to have fall sports.

“I can speak for a lot of people that this shutdown is worth it if we can have fall sports and fall school,” he said.

Each of the eight fall sports offered by the IHSAA will potentially be affected by the shutdown, but realistically some will be affected more than others.

While team gatherings are also not permitted, coaches can give their athletes individual programs to work on during this period. Cross country, tennis and golf appear to be the sports most easily able to be worked on individually as long as tennis courts and golf courses can be found.

Football, soccer and volleyball teams likely need to be gathered together the most, and of that group football seems the one with the most to lose even if the start of the fall season was just delayed by a few weeks. due to its physical nature and ability to have just one game per week.

The official start of practice for fall sports on the current calendar is scheduled for August 3, with game competition starting approximately two weeks later. Whether that practice date would be moved up to help make up for the loss of June if things improve is also unknown.

Both Greenlee and Busch had the same response when asked if their football teams could be ready in that short of a time if needed.

“We just have to be ready,” they both said. “We may not have a choice.”

Greenlee, a former football coach, elaborated on the topic.

High school weight rooms are off limits to student-athletes until a shutdown of school facilities is lifted.
AP photo

“All sports will be affected, but especially football especially with the weight room and the conditioning program,” he said. “The coaches association came up with a good plan a few years ago about limiting contact days and things like that, and that has really helped the sport of football. They have a good plan set into place, and to miss all of that is going to be difficult for players. I would hope all the kids would be trying to stay in shape the best they can, whether through running or if they have access to weight equipment in their homes. A lot of them don’t, because you don’t plan on something like this happening.”

Busch had similar thoughts.

“Coaches can suggest to their athletes that they work on certain things to be ready whenever they are able to start ‘official’ workouts, but whether those kids choose to do those or not is a location by location or cultural issue. As long as you have a good environment, you can get those kids to do those things.”

Athletic director J.J. Wade of Cloverdale agreed.

“My biggest concern with football is that you’re going to have kids come back in who are not as strong or in the same shape they were when school was in session and there could be more injuries,” he said. “At this point, I don’t see us starting until after the moratorium if we’re lucky.”

Wade noted that his coaches are utilizing technology to stay connected, although his volleyball and girls’ basketball programs are currently without head coaches.

“Our coaches are sending out things for their kids to work on, and they all have a Google Classroom set up [online] with their athletes for two-way communication. Obviously that’s not as good as being in the actual weight room.”

The options

Coaches nationwide who are desperate to conjure up ways to salvage sports seasons have posed some alternative solutions, but none of them seems valid.

One state was reportedly considering moving football to the spring months, while another suggestion was to shorten the regular season of all fall sports if the health concerns are diminished to get to keep the state tournament.

“A shortened season is better than no season” is the thinking along those lines.

“We want to return to normal if we can as fast as we can, but we want it to be safe for everyone,” Greenlee said. “The worst thing that could happen is to end this too soon, and have to go back to doing it again in November or December.”

Of all those proposals, Greenlee thinks the shortened season is the most likely to take place.

“Maybe Lucas Oil Stadium is already rented if they try to move football back,” he said. “I do think they could give up playing there and play at some of the bigger schools if they needed to. Instead of a nine-game regular season, you could possibly see a five- or six-game regular season.

“I don’t think they’d move it to the spring since those kids have already lost one season and might have to make a choice,” Greenlee added. “It has crossed my mind what a horrible thing it would be if we lost fall and winter sports this year, and things didn’t get back to normal until the spring. We could lose a whole year of school sports. What an awful thing that would be.”

Busch said he thinks the commonly-proposed policy for college and pro sports of having games with no fans in the stands could possibly work as an alternative to a total stoppage of contests.

“I’d be OK with that,” he said. “That would give us the opportunity to livestream things. We’d have to do some homework to find the best way to do that, but we could make that happen. We have tossed around if it’s realistic to space out fans in social distancing, and that’s not going to be easy to do.”

Busch doesn’t see any of the above options as being feasible, and a dropoff in the caliber of competition would be a likely result if games take place after such a limited practice period.

“Coaches may need to temper their performance goals a little bit as the season progresses,” he said. “You and I and eight of our friends could go out and play a game of basketball. Are there any safety concerns? It’s still a game of basketball. What quality is it? Probably not great. But it’s still a game, and you still get to participate in it.”

Wade agreed.

“I think we could starting playing football games on Aug. 21 if we start practice on Aug. 3, but you’re not going to get the same kind of product you’ve had in the past,” he said. “With it only being a nine-week season, I don’t see how they can push it back any further.”

No school, no sports

Greenlee said the prospect of traditional school resuming in the fall is also in question, and both he and Busch agree that school sports will not happen in the fall if students are still learning remotely as they are now.

“We don’t know what that’s going to look like at all,” Greenlee said. “They are making medical advances, but no one knows how fast that’s going to happen. Even if we keep doing everything the right way, there’s no guarantee that we’re going to get what we want. It’s a tough situation.”

Both athletic directors think no one will gain an advantage from the situation.

“It’s the same situation for everybody,” Greenlee said. “The playing field is level, but it’s not a very good playing field.”

Busch added another component to the equation, taken from application of rules in any situation.

“Assuming everybody abides by the state’s ruling, it’s a level playing field,” he said. “In our specific situation at North Putnam, it may help our new coach [yet to be hired after Sam Carnes resigned recently] to have more time to get ready and get adjusted without having to try to control 50 kids on a daily basis. I’ve told our coaches that we’re in a holding pattern, and every kid is going to have a different ability to work out on their own.”

Greenlee agreed.

“You never know what’s going on behind the scenes at other places,” he said. “I know at Greencastle it’s not happening here. I know some of our kids are lifting, but I’m not sure where.”

The ultimate decision will not be easy, whether made by the IHSAA, the department of education, the governor or the federal government.

“It will be tough,” Greenlee said. “What is the number of cases or deaths that is acceptable? A thousand? A hundred? At some point someone will have to pick a number. Obviously high school sports generates its money through gate receipts and fundraising, and you can’t ask businesses who are closed to keep donating. It’s a big ripple effect from the top down.”

While a decision on the educational format of school for the 2020-21 school year is not expected until mid-May, Greenlee said he hasn’t heard far more potential scenarios with students learning at home than those which involve students in buildings.

“I haven’t heard anything encouraging,” he said. “That’s just how the landscape is right now.”

Wade said his school is trying to be as optimistic as possible, hoping to still be able to have a “traditional” graduation for the class of 2020 schedule in July if state guidelines allow.

“We’re very hopeful that everything will open back up in some fashion in July, but we understand there’s a very good possibility that that won’t happen,” he said. “I hope for the kids’ sake that’s not going to happen. That was kind of a bum deal for the seniors this year, and we’re going to have a new set of seniors next year. I’d hate for them to have to miss their fall season.”

For now, athletic director everywhere are continuing to prepare as normal or a sports season that may or may not get to happen.

“Just Wednesday was the deadline for coaches to get me the summer travel requests for the summer of 2021 and I’ve been working on those,” he said. “We’re treating everything like it’s going to run as normal and hoping that’s the case. We don’t want to not be prepared if they say we’re ready to go.”

Busch noted that independent youth organizations such as AAU basketball or USSSA baseball and softball could put pressure on the IHSAA if they are permitted to resume their activities this summer under state guidelines.

“If one of those organizations says it’s going to start up July 1, that puts a lot of pressure on high school athletics to figure something out,” he said. “If they play and high school says you can’t even practice, there’s going to be some negative feedback.”

Busch is also ready for the day when things are back to normal.

“We just want to get kids back on the field and having fun competing for their school with their friends,” he said. “My fear is taking opportunities away from the kids. We don’t want to elongate that unless we have to. I’m an optimist, any way, and I’d be shocked if we don’t have fall sports — unless we don’t go back to school.

“That kind of trumps anything else in education-based athletics.”