After shutdown, athletes finally have some hope
Among the mixed signals being received by high school athletes, the Rip It Baseballtown Charities Showcase Series is the latest ray of hope.
A senior All-Star baseball game that included 56 players from 16 Berks County schools Monday at FirstEnergy Stadium is the latest example of how non-contact sports can be played safely during the coronavirus pandemic.
That has to be of some comfort to high school athletes who are watching the cancellation of the fall seasons by college conferences such as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference along with the Ivy and Patriot leagues.
Many of those same dominoes fell in March and ultimately led to the PIAA canceling the 2020 spring sports season.
But PIAA executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi, in an interview with Pennsylvania Football News, said what happens with college sports will have no influence on the PIAA decisions.
Lombardi has tried to quell social media rumors that the PIAA is going to cancel the high school football season, cancel all fall sports or swap the spring and fall sports seasons.
He said none of the decisions have been made and said they will be dealt with on a week-by-week basis. His biggest piece of advice in the article written by Billy Splain was for everyone to “take a step back, take a deep breath and calm down.”
That’s good advice considering high schools are still in the voluntary workout phase. Heat acclimation is scheduled to start Aug. 10 with practices scheduled to start Aug. 17.
Plenty of new information should be learned by then.
There have been a few setbacks reported around District 3 with voluntary football workouts. Practices were canceled for two weeks at Lampeter-Strasburg and Shippensburg high schools due to a player or coach testing positive for COVID-19.
On the other hand, high school students and adults have safely been participating in non-contact sports for a while.
Golf courses around the state have been open for more than two months.
The Berks County Comeback Classic has shown tennis, at least the singles variety, can be played safely.
Cross country also would appear to be a safe sport with modified starts and finishes since runners naturally spread out during the course of the race.
Even team sports such as baseball and softball are showing signs they too can be played safely. Many of the teams that made up the SchuylkillBerks and Berks Legion leagues are back on the field competing in independent leagues.
Softball has resumed with multi-team tournaments and the Pennsylvania Premier Fastpitch League for women at Lyons.
That’s positive news for a soccer or field hockey player.
Admittedly, the PIAA and school districts will have to deal with several challenges to resume high school sports. The biggest obstacle could be transportation of students to and from athletic events.
In the best interest of high school student-athletes, those hurdles shouldn’t be impossible to clear.
Despite the news of the latest round of sports cancellations, high school athletes have several examples of why they should remain optimistic.