Coaches anxious, hopeful in preparing for fall

Some high school sports coaches, players and fans who are starving for a return to normalcy applauded the Seminole County school board’s decision to target Aug. 17 as the start of the upcoming school year. They’re ready to play.

But some high school coaches have joined teachers raising health concerns and questioning the wisdom of starting fall sports practices before a surge in local COVID-19 cases is tamed.

The Florida High School Athletic Association still has July 27 listed as the first day teams can begin official practices for fall sports, which include football, girls volleyball, cross country, golf, swimming and bowling. South Florida school districts heavily hit by coronavirus have said that date is impossible, putting their teams at a severe health risk or competitive disadvantage depending on whether they choose to practice.

The FHSAA calendar could change Monday when its board of directors holds an emergency online meeting. They are expected to consider moving the start date back to Aug. 10 or later.

“Obviously, we want a season and we’re trying to figure out how to start. But how are we going to?” Lyman football coach Dennis Thomas said on Wednesday. “I don’t see what changes from now to July 27, or to Aug. 17, or even October. I don’t see things changing with the spikes in Florida we’re having.”

Lyman and other Seminole County public schools have been permitted to hold summer conditioning workouts for fall sports since June 8. Almost all of those running and agility drill sessions on campus have been for football teams — with social distancing and sanitation protocols in place and no contact and no footballs allowed. Gyms and weight rooms were only recently opened.

But coaches say at least three SCPS football teams, including Lyman, had to shut down workouts due to coronavirus concerns.

Thomas said Lyman halted its threedays-a-week-workout routine two weeks ago after learning that a sister of one of his players might have contracted the virus.

“None of our players tested positive,” Thomas said. “And the sister hadn’t even been tested when the decision was made. We just did not want to do anything that could jeopardize the health of our players, so the school shut down practice for a week.”

Thomas said he has been cautious since the day workouts began.