The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Lorain hoops, wrestling delayed
Start dates pushed back to after Dec. 11; bowling can continue
Lorain High School athletic director Bryan Koury announced Nov. 24 that all competition for wrestling and boys and girls basketball has been delayed until after Dec. 11.
Koury said the situation will be reassessed on a week-to-week basis and the driving factor behind the delay was due to the majority of the teams Lorain was supposed to compete against have paused athletics.
“A lot of it has to do with the fact that we don’t have any opponents right now because everyone else has delayed,” Koury said. “Obviously that played (into our decision). As of right now, much of our schedule over the first few weeks of the season has been blown up. I’m in the process right now of rescheduling and moving things around.”
According to Koury, bowling will continue because it is a noncontact sport where “all CDC guidelines can be met when competing against other schools.”
As of Nov. 24, the next basketball game on the schedule is set for Dec. 12. The girls varsity basketball team is scheduled to travel to Maple Heights for a varsity only contest.
All sports teams at Lorain are able to continue to practice as long as athletes continue to stay in compliance with weekly COVID-19 testing.
“A lot of it has to do with the fact that we don’t have any opponents right now because everyone else has delayed.” Lorain athletic director Bryan Koury
Lorain is the latest school in Lorain County to announce a pause in athletics. On Nov. 20, the Lorain County League paused contact sports contests until Dec. 7.
Koury believes this pause will give him and the school the opportunity to review their COVID-19 protocols and make sure everything is being done the right way to keep coaches, players and families safe.
“This is a perfect time to take a look at all of that, especially considering the fact that we don’t really have any games over the course of the next two weeks,” Koury said.
Lorain has not had any outbreaks of COVID-19 and Koury is hopeful that trend continues.
“We haven’t had any outbreaks or anything of that nature that would raise any red flags,” Koury said. “I think that pretty much every school in Northeast Ohio — whether it be schools themselves or individual sports teams — have dealt with situations where there have been kids
who have tested positive.
“That’s going to continue and I don’t see that (stopping) until we have a vaccine. The main thing that we want to be 100% sure of is that what we’re doing and how we’re doing it — relative to sports — is not one of the causes for (an outbreak).”
Koury is pleased with the way his players and coaches are following the COVID-19 protocols that the school has in place for athletic teams. The school will continue to review guidance from state and local health departments when making decisions.
“As of right now, we feel very good about everything that our coaches and players are doing in terms of the protocols that are in place,” Koury said. “As a result, we have no reason to believe that kids participating in sports are reason for spread.
“However, there is a lot of data being collected by county health departments throughout the state of Ohio and they are providing us with guidance. We hope to continue to get information from them where they can help to guide us to make sure that we are making the best decisions.”