WAIT AND WONDER PANDEMIC HAS LEFT FUTURE OF LOCAL SPORTS UNCERTAIN
Overview: Two months into the stay-at-home order, there are more questions than answers about sports’ resumption
“We’re going to take guidance from the governor, from the Department of Education and from the PIAA. We’re planning and hoping for something starting July 1. (Until then) it’s gonna be a wait and see.” — Pat Tulley, Gov. Mifflin athletic director and District 3 vice chairman, on the restart of high school sports
In those simpler times two months ago, the Berks County sports community was humming along without anyone knowing what was ahead.
Muhlenberg, Reading High and Wilson were advancing in the PIAA boys basketball tournament. Swimmers were in Lewisburg hoping to race for PIAA championships.
The high school spring season was gearing up. Boys tennis matches had begun. Baseball, softball, track and field, lacrosse and boys volleyball were finalizing preparations before their first games or meets.
Baseball and softball teams from Berks colleges were on their swings to southern states.
The Reading Fightin Phils were readying for the 70th anniversary season of baseball at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The Reading Royals were having a banner season on the ice, on pace to reach their highest-point total in five years and with increased attendance.
Then COVID-19 began to spread into Pennsylvania, bringing normalcy to a screeching halt.
“It’s an empty feeling,” Wilson baseball coach Sal Raccuglia said then, after Gov. Wolf closed schools across the state and issued his stay-at-home order. “We all see the writing on the wall. We’re just trying to hold onto the hope that they may let us start sometime in May and play a really short season.”
Of course, that didn’t happen. The PIAA canceled the rest of the state basketball tournament, the Class 2A swimming championships and the entire spring season. The NCAA canceled what remained of the winter and spring seasons in all three divisions. The ECHL ended the 2019-20 season and the Royals’ hopes of winning the Kelly Cup.
The Fightin Phils are on hold, like the rest of minor league baseball. And so is Grandview Speedway, which was scheduled to begin its season March 21, as well as Maple Grove Raceway and Big Diamond Speedway in Schuylkill County.
“I did not expect to be shut down this long,” said Tina Rogers, assistant manager at Grandview. “When this first started in March, I thought the longest would be through the month of May.”
Ron Horn stages running events in and around Berks County as the founder and owner of Pretzel City Sports. One of the first races on his schedule to be postponed was the Hooligan Hustle on March 19 in Reading.
“When we rescheduled this from March 19 to June 10, I thought there was no way we would not get this in,” Horn said. “Again, boy, was I wrong. We are probably going to reschedule this for sometime after Labor Day.”
It’s mid-May, and high school and college campuses remain closed, for the most part. Those in athletics, like in most walks of life, are meeting through video conferences these days, trying to assess what has happened the last nine weeks and continue operations the best they can.
“We’re all experts on Zoom now,” Kutztown University athletic director Greg Bamberger said half-jokingly. “You miss the daily pop-ins with the coaches and the interaction with the student-athletes.
“I had a chance to meet with SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) on Zoom about a week ago. It was their last meeting of the year. That was fun because I got to see them face-to-face and tell them how proud I was of them.”
Bamberger said he feels busier working from home. Fellow athletic directors Bill Stiles of Alvernia and Rick Ferry of Albright estimate they’re doing at least 30 Zoom meetings a week, whether that’s with their supervisors, coaches or athletes.
“We’re actually a little bit more of a cohesive group because we’re meeting much more often than we normally would,” Stiles said. “I felt that was important to get everybody together weekly. Sometimes our agendas are long and sometimes our agendas are short.
“I think it’s cathartic to see everyone’s face and to see each other. It adds tremendous value that we’re all in this together.”
Naturally, the shutdown has had an economic impact locally. The Royals, for example, lost five regular season home games, plus who knows how many playoff games. The Fightin Phils have lost 20 home games and probably will lose a lot more.
Bowling, traditionally a strong business in Berks, also is on hold. Lanes can’t reopen until the governor gives the go-ahead.
“All of our employees have been furloughed and are eager to return to work,” Berks Lanes management posted on its website earlier this month. “We have been and will continue conducting thorough cleaning and sanitizing procedures.
“We believe we can provide social distancing for our customers. Please support us in allowing bowling and other small businesses to return to work to serve you, our customers, by contacting your local officials.”
Golf clubs and courses across the state re-opened May 1 and are practicing measures for the safety of their customers, such as allowing only one person per motor cart and removing water coolers and ball washers.
Other organizations have shut down operations for the season, such as Pennsylvania Legion baseball. Representatives from the Schuylkill-Berks and Berks leagues had discussed forming an independent league, but the chances of that happening are dimmer every day.
Little League Baseball, however, which has two leagues in Berks County, might play this summer, even though the Little League World Series and the state tournament have been canceled.
“We want to try to have a season for the kids,” said Chris Robinson, District 8 administrator. “I know a lot of local leagues have canceled their seasons in the last few days. We want to be able to play once we get into the green status.
“We’re suspended, but we hope to play some sort of season. Sports may be one of the few things, if not the only thing, that’s going to get kids back to normal (before schools re-open).”
What will the new normal look like when it comes to sports? Will there be a fall season in high school or college? How different will things be?
PIAA fall practices are scheduled to begin Aug. 17.
“We’re going to take guidance from the governor, from the Department of Education and from the PIAA,” said Pat Tulley, Gov. Mifflin athletic director and District 3 vice chairman. “We’re planning and hoping for something starting July 1. (Until then) it’s gonna be a wait and see.”
July 1 also seems like an important date for colleges for multiple reasons, including the conditioning of athletes, who are trying to stay in shape at home.
“How do we take care of these athletes to put them in the best position to have success?” Ferry said. “How long has it been since anybody was truly, truly involved with conditioning? How long do they need to get in (sport-specific) shape? How do we acclimate them?
“Our trainer (Rick Partsch) is really worried about the number of injuries and what new procedures he has to put in place whenever we start.”
Like high schools, colleges are considering health and safety measures, such as testing athletes and coaches; limiting the number of athletes in a locker room at the same time; restricting or eliminating spectators at events; and their response if and when an athlete tests positive for the coronavirus.
“We’re trying to be nimble enough in our planning so that we can change on the fly depending on the variables thrown at us,” Stiles said. “There are so many external governing bodies that will impact what the new normal will look like, whether it’s the CDC (Center for Disease Control), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the NCAA, our conference (Middle Atlantic Conference) or our institution.
“We certainly want to open. We want to have athletics in whatever form it’s going to look like, but the health and the safety of our student-athletes and our community is paramount.”
Ferry said he, co-athletic director Janice Luck and other Albright administrators are preparing for all options, including the cancellation of fall sports.
“There’s such a range among the schools in our conference,” Ferry said. “Lycoming is in Williamsport, is in the yellow and expecting to conduct business as usual. Then you have schools in larger urban areas, whether they’re in suburban Philadelphia, north Jersey or Baltimore. They don’t know what it’s going to look like.
“We can see a situation where a portion of our conference is playing and a portion of our conference is not able to play. There are just so many unknowns.”
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which includes Kutztown, has shut down all face-to-face interaction through the summer months, which Bamberger said he interprets to be Aug. 22, the beginning of the fall semester.
NCAA president Mark Emmert told CNN a few days ago that large-scale testing and tracing are critical to athletics resuming on college campuses.
Emmert said that because schools “very likely” will be re-starting their athletic programs at different times, college sports are likely to have shortened seasons. The NCAA may have to rearrange the schedules for its fall championships, perhaps moving them into the winter months.
“If the students are not on campus, we’re not playing sports,” Bamberger said. “The NCAA doesn’t have a decision to make. Ultimately, the decisions are being made by our local and state government. They’re the ones making the call.”
Tulley said there have been no discussions regarding starting some fall high school sports, such as tennis and cross country, while others, such as football and soccer, remain shut down.
“I don’t think anybody really knows,” he said. “We’re just in a holding pattern.”
The Royals released their 2020-21 schedule last week and are trying to conduct business as usual as much as they can amid the uncertainty.
“Our assumption is we’re going to have a season next year,” Royals general manager David Farrar said. “If that starts in October or November or December, we’re still going to have it. The games may adjust a little bit. The schedule may change. But we’ve certainly got to sell tickets.”
Maple Grove officials, who could not be reached for comment, still have their biggest event on the schedule. The Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals have been trimmed to two days and moved up to Sept. 12-13.
But until Gov. Wolf moves Berks County from the red phase of coronavirus re-opening to yellow and then to green and announces schools will reopen on time in the fall, everything remains on hold.
“Salvaging the 2020 season really depends on how long Gov. Wolf has Berks County locked down,” Grandview’s Tina Rogers said. “Everything depends on when the restrictions are lifted, and large gatherings are allowed to happen.”