PXU cancels wrestling, postpones hoops, soccer
There will be no wrestling competition for the 10 Phoenix Union High School District schools and the start of basketball and soccer games have been pushed back to some time in February.
The PXU on Tuesday sent a letter to the community, letting it know about its winter sports season plans amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phoenix South Mountain, under coach Jeremy Soria, has been on a steady climb and was expected to vie for a 6A boys basketball state championship this season, behind senior guard Zay Freeney.
The district met with the winter sports head coaches to discuss plans.
The Arizona Interscholastic Asso
ciation Executive Board reversed its vote last week by a 5-4 vote to start the winter sports season on Jan. 18.
Carl Hayden captured the 5A boys soccer state championship last season and has another strong team.
Most action is beginning across the state Tuesday.
If basketball and soccer begins in the PXU, it would not be part of the AIA’s regular schedule and state tournaments. The district plans to create an intra-district schedule and playoff format with an All-PXU District Championship if it becomes safe to do so.
Former Phoenix Mountain Pointe girls basketball head coach Donnis Henry said he isn’t surprised by the PXU not starting yet. Mountain Pointe is part of the Tempe Union High School District that begins competition this week.
PXU was late to start fall sports, and, when it did, shut it back down after three weeks because of the rising virus metrics in the district’s zip codes.
“Phoenix Union is primarily Black and brown kids, who live with multifamily (grandparents, aunts, uncles) those numbers are high as well,” Henry said. “If the AIA wanted to really step up and show they understood what was happening, they would have devised a plan that was beneficial for all of the students-athletes. It would have shown that they have a true vested interest in all of its paying members of the AIA.”
Former Central girls basketball coach Ernest Pouncy said the numbers are still alarming with Arizona leading the nation in cases per 100,000.
“Despite case numbers that are showing signs of a potential downward trend, Arizona still leads the world in average new confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita,” he said in an email on Jan. 17. “The state is reporting an average of 121.6 newly confirmed cases over the past seven days according to data from Johns Hopkins University. California, the second-highest tracked jurisdiction in the world, comes in at 109.5. Arizona is no stranger to being at the top of the COVID-19 charts. The state has been the top hotspot in the world at least three times now.
“So, tell me why it’s so important to play basketball this season or at least right now? I don’t think we care about anyone’s health until someone dies or becomes seriously ill from COVID.”
Here is a letter sent to the PXU community:
“Phoenix Union Athletics Community,
“The health, safety, and wellness of our entire community remains our top priority. Currently, winter sports are still on hold, as the spread of COVID-19 in our zip codes remains at unsafe levels. As communicated in December, we will resume the winter sports season when PXU Level 1 Benchmarks (see bottom of page) are met.
“It is our sincere intention that there can and will be a winter sports season for our student-athletes in PXU. Recently, district and school administration met with our winter sports head coaches to discuss current benchmarks for PXU as well as potential start dates for winter try-outs, practices, and competitions. While we were encouraged that the AIA has directed all winter sports competitions be delayed until January 18, 2021, the spread of COVID-19 in our boundaries makes this target date unrealistic for Phoenix Union.
“Therefore, the decision has been made to develop a plan to potentially begin try-outs and practices as soon as January 25th, with the AIA 14-day practice requirement window in effect (meaning actual competitions would not begin until February). As a result of this decision, PXU will not be able to participate in the regular AIA winter sports schedules and state playoffs. Instead, we will create an intra-district (PXUonly) schedule and playoff format in order to compete for an All-PXU District Championship when safe to do so.
“Unfortunately, due to wrestling being an extremely high-risk sport for infection spread, it has been decided that competitions will be cancelled for this school year. However, when safe, we will allow our head wrestling coaches to reopen Phase 1 and Phase 2 workouts so that our wrestling student-athletes can stay healthy and engaged despite the cancellation of competitions.
“Lastly, it is important to note that our decisions for the current winter sports season will only be in effect for this school year. We are hopeful that we’ll resume normal athletics opportunities for the 2021-2022 school year. In addition, our plan, if safe, is to compete in the AIA spring sports season without modifications beginning on March, 1, 2021.
“Thank you for your continuous support of our PXU athletic programs and, most importantly, our student-athletes.”