While some school sports teams are experiencing their first weeks of fall play, others are noticeably absent. Football, volleyball and cheerleading have been deemed “high-risk” and have been relegated to a new Fall II Season, planned to run from March 1 until April 30, 2021.
“It’s really disappointing. We’re frustrated. We feel certain sports are being discriminated against. When professional teams and other states says its OK, but as a public school, we’re not permitted to – it’s hard to explain that to the kids,” said Terry Jones, Saratoga Springs High School Coach since 1999, and Head Football Coach since 2007.
MOVING THE GOALPOSTS
The proposed move is resulting in a lot of details that still need to be sorted out.
“There are a number of concerns and everyone is tasked to be as creative and as flexible as possible right now to come up with solutions but there certainly is unpredictability,” said Saratoga Springs Athletic Director Nicholas McPartland.
The combination of concerns spans everything from safety protocols to scheduling conflicts.
Wearing masks and social distancing has worked great for other fall sports, but football is fundamentally hands-on, so limiting contact between players poses a problem. For volleyball, being played indoors and the shared use of a ball are hurdles. Partial solutions, like wearing gloves without directly impacting the integrity of the game, just haven’t been researched enough to be feasible options yet, said McPartland.
DISJOINTED GAME PLAN
As it now stands, the Fall II Season will overlap the start of spring sports, which are scheduled to begin April 19, 2021.
“Ideally, I would love to see the state move spring sports later to allow football to play a regular 10-week season with a two week pre-season,” said Jones.
The possibility of cutting out competitive games and tournaments is another concern.
“How many kids want to practice a sport only and not compete? It’s like what we saw when the spring sports were cancelled this year. These athletes worked years and years playing and perfecting that sport and then to have that taken away from them, I think in some cases, it’s devastating for a lot of them. High school sports are such a vital part of student athletes’ lives – you feel for them,” he said.
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE BALL
What Mother Nature decides to do will also have a considerable impact.
In some regions of the state, there may still be a foot of snow on the ground in early March, where in others, athletes can be out on the field running actual practices.
“It’s a great concern. Football usually starts in the warm weather and plays into the cold weather so athletes are conditioned by the time it gets cold. Starting out playing in the snow and cold weather, we’ll have to wait and see, but there is a potential for injuries,” said Jones.
For now, some SSHS athletes are waiting while others are staying active by joining other fall sports.
“Sports is the hook that brings some students to school every single day. School is not as attractive for them when we don’t have sports. There are so many rewards connected to athletics, it’s worth trying to come up with a plan,” said McPartland.
