Gov. Wolf has left door open for PIAA to play
The PIAA sent a well-crafted, respectful, 400-word letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf earlier this week requesting an opportunity to make its case for playing high school sports this fall.
My letter to the Governor would have been more concise.
Twelve words, to be exact:
“With all due respect sir, we are playing. Thanks for your concern.” End of debate.
The state’s scholastic sports governing body has spent months doing its homework. It has studied the ins and outs of COVID-19. It has listened to state and national health organizations. It has directed its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee to formulate detailed health and safety guidelines and requested its member schools formulate exacting plans to safely return student-athletes to the field.
Athletic directors and coaches are bending over backward to make all of this work. Trust me, they’re taking it seriously. Many are filled with anxiety. They understand the gravity of the situation and value the health and well-being of the studentathletes whose care they are entrusted with.
Everyone involved has done everything possible to make this happen. For months they have gone into overtime crossing every possible ‘T’ and dotting every ‘I.’
It would be nice to see Wolf support those actions, or even act as if he’s slightly interested in the plight of thousands of high school athletes.
He hasn’t.
Last week he threw a hardbreaking curve, voicing a “strong recommendation” to suspend all youth sports in Pennsylvania until Jan. 1.
The PIAA buckled on that one and pushed back the start of fall practice by two weeks; many leagues opted to start even later. Some school won’t play at all.
Dr. Robert Lombardi, the executive director of the PIAA, urged Wolf to reconsider, pointing out in his letter that even if high school sports are shut down kids will find places to play. And that the conditions won’t be nearly as safe as they would under more rigid school guidance.
Wolf has been lukewarm to Lombardi’s request. As of Thursday he hadn’t even read the PIAA’s letter.
“I’m not sure what they can say to make me change my sense of what I believe is the right thing to do,” Wolf said Thursday. “Again, they have a decision to make on their own.”
That, to me, is an invitation for Lombardi and the PIAA to go for it.
Wolf wants to wash his hands of this messy situation; he doesn’t want to be the bad guy who says the kids can’t play. He has left the door open for the PIAA. It should take the next step.
Wolf is certainly not in an envious situation. No matter what he has dictated throughout this five-month ordeal has been met with fierce opposition. When he closed restaurants and bars he heard howls of protest; when he opened them up (partially) those on the other side of the aisle cried foul.
He’s correct when he says the overriding concern here is to get the kids back to into school safely and that playing sports is a secondary concern. But that doesn’t make it a trivial matter.
I could give him 10 good reasons why it’s important for high school athletics to resume ... and 10 reasons why play should be suspended.
There are thoughtful arguments to be made on each side of the argument.
The one thing we’ve known for sure during this pandemic is that we don’t know anything for sure.
I am, of course, biased on this issue. I have made my life’s work writing about high school sports; my natural inclination is to let the kids play.
If my children were of that age I’d be reluctant and concerned and anxious, but I’d let them play.
I can’t say for sure that they’d be safe or healthy, or that they wouldn’t spread the virus because I don’t know that to be true; no one knows.
I do know this much: The people involved – administrators, coaches and players – have done everything they can to make this work. The least we can do is give them a chance.