Athletes, parents hold ‘Let Us Play’ rally in West Chester
In response to the Central League’s decision to postpone interscholastic sports until January, parents and students are demanding change.
Protesters flocked to the Chester County Health Department office in West Chester Monday. Students from Central League and Chester County schools held signs that said “Let Us Play,” “Mental Health Matters” and “Let Seniors Finish What We Started.”
The protest was organized by Delaware County and Chester County student-athletes and parents.
In a letter to school administrators, Central League parents are calling for a reversal of the league’s decision to postpone athletics until next year, while the majority of Pennsylvania schools opened practice Monday. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), which is the governing body for high school sports in the Commonwealth, voted to move forward with a fall season last month.
“We want to see if they can reverse their decisions,” Garnet Valley senior football player Kevin McGarrey said. “Only three districts in all of Pennsylvania aren’t playing and we’re one of them. The whole rest of Pennsylvania is playing and we’re trying to reverse the decision of our league officers and officials . ... It’s good seeing these guys coming together. We’re all one team now and trying to play.”
The campaign can be followed on Twitter @ letthemplaypa. Among the Central League organizers are Derek Ryder, whose son, Jack, is a senior quarterback at Strath Haven, and Dave Wrzesniewski, whose son, Will, is a junior linebacker at Garnet Valley.
“We know this is an uphill battle, but it’s what we need to do,” said Wrzesniewski, who is an assistant football coach at Garnet Valley. “It’s a powerful, real life example for student-athletes on how to peacefully and respectfully stand up for what they believe is right. We are pushing it on social media as well as an email/letterwriting campaign to the Chester County Health Department and the individual school board’s superintendent, and (athletic director) for their reference.”
In the letter, Central League parents are demanding answers. They want to know which administrators supported the action to cancel sports, but most important, they want clarity on several issues.
“We need to take advantage of the window we have to allow student athletes an outlet,” the letter says. “Their health and well being must be our priority. Health and well being is both physical and mental. The decision to participate should be made by every individual family not league or school administrators. There are risks we take every day. Benefits must outweigh the negatives.”
The organizers are seeking answers to the following questions from school administrators:
• Why schools with comparable COVID-19 rates are going forward with fall sports, but Central League schools and others in Delaware, Chester and Montgomery counties are sitting out?
• If there would be a liability to schools would that change if every studentathlete signed a waiver?
• Why the league is “going against” the recommendation of Delaware County superintendents, who last month issued a statement announcing their support for the return of high school athletics?
• Why, regarding contact tracing, exposure risks much higher than sporting events are allowed, including movie theaters and restaurants, but interscholastic sports are not. (It’s worth noting that such facilities operate at no more than 25 percent capacity under the state’s “green” reopening phase)?
The organizers cited a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin that found, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March, “68 percent of student athletes reported anxiety and depression that would typically require medical intervention,” which is a spike of 37 percent from previous studies. Parents are demanding information on the percentage of Chester, Delaware and Montgomery adolescents requiring such care. The letter concludes: “Lastly, COVID is not going away this school year. As parents we cannot even explain to our children the specific reasons that fall sports were canceled, or the metrics that will be used for allowing sports to resume in January. Children and teens can not be expected to live in uncertainty for extended times without it affecting their mental well being. Please consider their mental health along with their physical health.
“We are requesting that the decision to postpone fall sports with no guarantee of a spring season, be reversed. We look forward to hearing your response. We know you are trying to do what’s best but we believe that decisions were made primarily based on speculation and not data.
“Please know that we will not stop until our kids are on the field again, as they deserve to be.”
On change.org, a petition website, there are more than 1,000 signatures calling for the Central League and other local leagues to reverse their decisions.
Last week the Central League, in a statement posted on Twitter, announced the postponement of fall sports “in concert with our district leadership teams” as well as “direction from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Chester and Montgomery County Health Departments, and the Governor’s Office.
“The Central League will stay in constant contact with PIAA to work collaboratively and advocate on creating alternative solutions for our student athletes in order for them to participate in interscholastic sports,” the statement added.
Central League parents vehemently believe that explanation isn’t enough, and isn’t fair to the studentathletes who spent months preparing for a fall season.
According to research done by Easternpafootball.com, 86 high schools chose not to play football in 2020, which translate to roughly 15 percent of the state. Only seven of those schools are from districts other than Districts 1 and
12. Two schools in the Western Pa. — Summit Academy and Uniontown — reversed course after initially deciding not to cancel their seasons.
The leagues in District
1 include schools from Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. The Central, ChesMont and Del Val Leagues all opted out of fall sports and will pursue options for the spring. Last month the PIAA passed a motion to allow schools that decided against playing to explore a possible spring season for fall sports. For example, the Catholic League’s plan is to hold all three seasons — fall, winter and spring — beginning in January. That would effectively mean each season will have an abbreviated, four-or fiveweek campaign. The state of Delaware decided on a similar model last month.
Phone calls to some Central League school administration offices, seeking comment for this story, were not immediately returned.