The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Unprecedented challenges in lost season
Coaches trying to keep underclassmen engaged; players could lose their summer season as well
When the spring sports season became a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic on April 20, Vermilion softball coach Tony Larizza was frustrated.
Two weeks earlier would have been his first game as coach of the Sailors, in a league game against Tiffin. Instead, the first year coach now has to wait a calendar year before he’ll get to coach high school softball again.
Larizza and his team were able to practice and were coming up on team picture day before they were sent home to wait for the resumption of the season.
“We got in maybe six or seven practices and then the next thing I knew it was picture day and then they told us to go home and we weren’t even doing pictures,” he said. “So we didn’t even get to do team pictures or anything.”
That resumption never came, and now Larizza is trying to pick up the pieces after a lost season. The team graduates three seniors and misses a year’s worth of coaching for underclassmen.
The Vermilion coach, like many others around the country, is forced to meet with his team virtually through Zoom meetings.
But in losing his first season as coach, Larizza is also losing valuable time to build his own rapport with players.
“We’ve been doing the Zoom calls and our trainer has now put together a training thing they can do at home. And I took the core workouts we were doing in the offseason and I sent that to all of them and I’ve been keeping track of that.”
Elyria’s Ken Fenik is on the opposite side of the spectrum in terms of tenure. He was entering his 26th season as the Pioneers’ coach. But much like his freshman counterpart, he is facing similar issues.
“One of the hardest things is going to be for the kids that were on JV, probably not having the summer, and not having that spring season, and then (they’re forced to move to varsity),” he said. “There’s going to be a huge hit next year without these kids getting that experience and coaching that they needed. And I look at that across the board, because some of these kids won’t even play this summer.”
Fenik and his group of nine seniors were aiming for a fourth state championship in 2020 after falling in
a state semifinal a year ago.
Now the Pioneers will be tasked with replacing nine productive seniors, including D-I county player of the year Maycee Godbolt, who will play at Bowling Green in 2021.
Lorain’s Pam Jackson also understands the importance of coaching for underclassmen. Entering her 20th season coaching in Lorain, Jackson is losing three seniors this offseason including second-team allcounty selection Talia Harris.
Jackson and her staff have been keeping in contact with underclassmen on the varsity and junior varsity rosters. They are trying to keep interest up in softball for those who may not play during the summer.
“We’ve been sending them a lot of encouraging text messages letting them know to keep their heads up and that this is only one year and we still have next year to work for,” she said.
In an unprecedented time, all three coaches are trying to do just that. Keep their players spirits up, in the face of a lost season.
The COVID-19 shutdown has become the great equalizer in the high school coaching world. As now regardless of the years of experience one may have, each coach is now facing the same challenge, coaching a year’s worth of lessons from home.