RIIL still won’t reveal fall plans
Coaches ready whenever season starts
Officials say “no decision” yet on status of fall sports
The R.I. Interscholastic League has established Monday, Sept. 14 as the start-up date for a select a group of fall sports – boys & girls cross country, girls tennis, and gameday cheerleading.
As for when other sports will actually be offered or get pushed off to a later date … stand by. At the moment, the league is leaving the light on for touchdowns and goals to occur before the end of the current calendar year.
The coronavirus has created much uncertainty, thus it’s no surprise to learn the fate of those deemed higher-risk sports like football, soccer, field hockey, and volleyball are still up in the air in terms of competing in the fall. At this time, they have yet to be officially ruled out. The RIIL does have a contingency plan should the state shifts out of the currently-in-place Phase 3 criteria, which none of the aforementioned sports meet.
If you’re a football or soccer coach, what’s the message to your athletes? The short answer is to maintain a business-per-usual approach and remind the players to keep training just in case a break in the clouds occurs and there’s an actual 2020 season on the docket. Then there’s the glass-is-half-empty approach – be prepared for your favorite season to rev up sometime in the early months of 2021.
“Honestly it’s deflating, but not unexpected,” said Tolman boys soccer head coach Dan Silva in response to the Interscholastic League on Wednesday stating that the fall 2020 lineup remains TBA.
“My thing is that if we play later on in the season, you have more time to work on yourself as a player to get physically fit and focus on your academics.
“When it comes time to play, be ready. If we’re going to play and you’re not ready, you’re going to look like a fool,” Silva added. “Be ready no matter what.”
For the Shea High football team, summer workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays remain on the docket. For the Woonsocket High football team, continue to head to the local gyms and fields and pay close attention to the video clips sent out by head coach Charlie Bibeault.
The 2020 fall season hasn’t been put on ice – not yet, anyway.
“We’re going to continue to stick with what we’re doing until we’re told something different,” said Shea football head coach Dino Campopiano. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but I definitely think [the RIIL] is going to try to have a schedule for the kids. That’s why you’ve got to be prepared and we will be.”
Added Bibeault, “If you stay ready, you’ll always be ready.”
If football and soccer receives the green light to begin practicing on Sept. 14, ramping up toward the season could resemble a mad dash. Games would start on Oct. 2 with scrimmages and Injury Fund contests allowed as of Sept. 28.
“As a knowledge and terminology standpoint, I think we’re going to be okay. Obviously the biggest challenge will be getting in shape … jumping from the couch to play Division I football,” said Bibeault, his Novans moving up to the state’s top tier after winning back-to-back Division II Super Bowls.
“If it’s going to be two weeks to get ready for the season, you’re better holding off until next March,” said Silva.
As for continuing to train with an eye towards the 2020 fall season only to be told that fall sports that aren’t permitted to start on Sept. 14 would be part of Season 3 of the RIIL’s 2020-21 four-season approach, Bibeault stated, “I’m open to anything. Coaching is one of my favorite things to do.
I miss the kids. I miss the atmosphere. I miss the field, but the safety and well-being of our players is the most important thing.”
Added Silva, “Going to the gym and working out, it could mean a lot more come March. You have a chance to go out with a bang. I think it would mean a lot to our senior class which we have a lot of high hopes for.”
As part of the 11-page document the Interscholastic League sent to the schools and media, it states that the final call on what the fall season will look like won’t come into shape until the finalization of school reopening plans on August 17. Until then, the beat goes on as football head coaches like Cumberland’s Josh Lima wonder how to treat the next week-plus.
“We don’t want to juice our guys up where we’re 100 percent playing this fall, then you have a letdown. We also don’t want to say that we’re 100 percent playing in the spring and then guys are like ‘Let’s take it easy,’” said Lima. “Realistically, we still don’t know what’s going to happen yet.”