Spring sports KO’d by covid-19

The news came in on Thursday afternoon, but it should have been sooner than that.

The Arkansas Activities Association issued a press release late Thursday that confirmed what we all knew was coming — the cancellation of spring sports due to the covid-19 pandemic.

With Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s directive last Monday that called off the rest of in-person school for the remaining calendar year, Thursday’s announcement was simply a matter of time.

I thought we had our answer on Wednesday actually.

The AAA put out a press release on Wednesday saying they had extended the dead period until May 30 but had originally made no reference to the fate of spring sports.

At that point on May 30 — after nearly three months away from practice and competition — logic only dictated there was no way spring sports would be able to salvage any of the season, especially with school out.

And for a period of about 24 hours before Thursday’s announcement, some of us were left dumbfounded at why the AAA released what it did on Wednesday. Why leave all of us — especially the kids — hanging?

Whatever the reason, the right call was made Thursday, which included the canceling of the annual Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star games and coaches clinic week in June.

This decision gives us some finality and closure on the 2020 spring sports season and hopefully will let us move on. We can cope with the loss and look ahead to better days.

In today’s sports section is some reaction from athletic director Ken Harriman at Siloam Springs High School and his soccer coaches, Luke Shoemaker (boys) and Abby Ray (girls). We’ll catch up with more coaches and athletes down the road.

The big blow for the town and the school district is Siloam Springs will not be hosting the Class 5A state soccer tournament next month.

The hope is that all the AAA will honor the 2020 spring sports state tournament sites at the same location for 2021, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t. Meanwhile we wait.

It was one month ago today that I first got the directive that our office could be shutting down to the pandemic, and sure enough one day later that happened.

While working from home, I’ve been spending precious time with my two children, cooking for us nearly every day and living a style of life that’s not been possible since I started my career.

I’m as anxious as anyone to move past all this, but I’ve also learned to treasure the time as well.

Losing spring sports is a huge blow, but like anything else we will bounce back