FALL WITH NO FOOTBALL
Virginia High School League presents options for return of sports
The Virginia High School League presented three options for the return of high school sports — none of which included football in fall — but delayed a decision on the possibilities until July 27. The decision was made Wednesday during a VHSL Executive Committee
meeting. The three options included:
Leave all sports in current seasons. Only golf and cross country — both low and moderate contact risks sports — would be allowed to play. Football, field hockey, volleyball, and cheer — all high-risk sports — would be canceled.
Switch fall and spring seasons. Track and field, tennis, soccer, baseball, and softball — all low and moderate contact risk sports — would be allowed to play in the fall.
Delay all VHSL sports and adopt the Condensed Interscholastic Plan. The season alignment would be winter sports from Dec. 14 to Feb. 20, with the first contest date on Dec. 28; fall sports from Feb. 15 to May 1, with the first contest date on
March 1; and spring sports April 12 to June 26 with the first contest date on April 26.
“It’s important to remember that in all these models playing sports in the high risk category depends on being out of the current Phase 3 guidelines. All our efforts will continue towards advocating for the
opening of sports and activities in a safe and reasonable way that will protect athletes, activity participants, coaches, officials, and the public,” VHSL Executive Director Billy Haun said in a release. “The VHSL will continue making judgments based on the best available information and directives provided by the Governor, the Virginia Department of Health, and the Virginia Department of Education.”
VHSL Executive Committee chairwomen Shannon Butler, who is the principal at York High School said there were pros and cons to each proposal.
“Option 3 gives the best opportunity for all the students to participate,” Butler said. “The problem with Option 1 and Option 2 is that there is a lot of risk there. All three options exist and we want feedback.”
The biggest takeaway from the three plans was that none allowed for high school football to take place in the fall.
“At the end of the day, I feel like it’s better for all of the kids as a whole,” Deep Creek head coach Andre Twine said. “We want to have some form of season coming up for all sports. Having a season is the best thing in the world.”
Hampton football coach Mike Smith had an idea that football wasn’t going to be played in the fall.
“I’ve felt for some time that football this fall was not going to happen,” Smith said. “I wish it would, but I see the purpose of not subjecting these kids to (risk). I don’t know that there’s going to be football this fall anywhere by the time we’re through. This is a horrible experience for everybody.”
Tabb football coach Matt Lawson prefers the second option, but the biggest thing is getting on the field.
“It looks like they’re going to condense everything and I’m OK with that because we get to play, to teach and coach our kids and that’s what we do,” Lawson said. “It’s better than nothing. I’d rather see them do that than go to option No. 1, where they keep just cross country and golf only in the fall, and not play football, field hockey and volleyball.”
Chris Scott, head coach at Oscar Smith, wants his kids to play, but he also wants them to be safe.
“I just want to do what’s the safest option for our players to be safe,” Scott said. “Whatever is the safest option for our players that allows us to play. Our guys need it. Our community needs it.
“I’ve been a part of sports since I was in elementary school,” he added. “Overall I know how important sports is and how important it is to the growth and development of students.”
Joe Jones doesn’t care when his Ocean Lakes squad plays, just that they get to compete.
“We’ll play whenever. We just want to play. If we get to play Christmas Eve at night, we’ll do that,” Jones said. “We just got to embrace it. It’s the way it is for a lot of things … everything needs to be done safely. I don’t envy the people who have to make these decisions at the top. These are not easy decisions to make.”
Haun went through the options and pointed out the pros and cons to each.
With the traditional schedule option, he said the biggest negative was that only golf and cross country would be allowed during the fall. All of the other sports would be canceled.
The swapping seasons option allows all sports to be played, but Haun said if there was a second wave of coronavirus this fall and sports would have to be called off, the spring sports teams would lose a second straight season.
The final option – the condensed season – allows all the sports to play and gives schools the ability to reopen and deal with any potential outbreaks within the school before starting sports. The negative side would be fewer games. There were also concerns about how to deal with the playoffs.
“Option three gives schools the best opportunity to play sports and makes the most sense,” Jamestown principal and Executive Committee member Howard Townsend said during the meeting.
Virginia Beach coordinator of student activities David Rhodes know the students just want to compete, but he refrained from endorsing one of the options.
“I think we’ve got to look at all of them,” Rhodes said. “This has just been delivered to us. I think we need to look at all the options and gather information from the schools to see where we land.”
The VHSL, which governs the state’s more than 300 public high schools, hasn’t held any competition since the Class 2 state championship basketball games on March 12. The spring sports season was canceled March 20 and on May 7 the league announced the conclusion to the 2019-20 season.
The VHSL canceled offseason and summer activities on May 15. The league’s reopening process began June 11 after the governor announced his school reopening plans. Schools are allowed to start offseason practices and activities after submitting plans outlining compliance with the Virginia Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s mitigation strategies. Despite the delay of a decision on reopening sports, the VHSL did say teams can continue offseason conditioning and practice.
Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Hampton had approved plans at the start of this week.