‘Is it going to be a full season?’
Area coaches hopeful, anticipate start of summer activity and upcoming season
Area high school coaches hopeful, anticipate start of summer training, upcoming season.
How important is playing a game?
Antioch football coach Brian Glashagel answered a simple question with a passionate one.
“Did you do sports when you were in high school?” Glashagel asked. “I did football, basketball and track. For me, while it wasn’t the only reason I went to school, it was a big chunk of the reason.
“I know for a lot of young men in football — and kids in all sports and other extracurriculars — for whom it’s a major incentive. For a lot of these kids, high school sports is it.
“Only 3% go on to do any sport in college. To lose a season or a year of sports for these kids would be devastating to their mindset, to their education, to everything.”
For Naperville Central football coach Mike Stine, losing one season of sports to the coronavirus pandemic was enough.
“I look at the seniors who missed the whole spring,” Stine said. “Some of the life lessons they would have learned during those sports and the impact the coaches would have had on their lives, they missed out on that.
“It’s not necessarily the game itself. It’s the life lessons that are taught through these sports. In my mind, that’s even more important.”
As the focus shifts toward summer and Illinois starts to emerge from the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, area football coaches are looking at a season that will certainly be different from any other.
On Friday, the IHSA scheduled a virtual meeting with athletic directors across the state to discuss a guideline for summer workouts, conditioning and the eventual start of the 2020 fall season.
A game plan would give Richards coach Tony Sheehan some comfort.
“The hypotheticals run through your mind,” Sheehan said. “Are we going to have a season? When are we going to be able to see our kids again? If we get a season, is it going to be a full season?
“You try to plan as much as possible, but really it’s an unknown. I can’t imagine not having a fall without football. I’m thoroughly enjoying the time with the my wife and my kids. I love spending that extra time with them.
“But at the same time it’s time to get back to football. It’s time to get back to some kind of normalcy. Hopefully, for everyone’s sake, football and all fall sports are back.”
Across the board, football coaches said they were happy to take a step in the right direction after nearly three months of questions and doubts.
“Three weeks ago, the way I was reading things, I thought there was no way I would see my kids in the summer,” West Aurora coach Nate Eimersaid. “I honestly didn’t think it would happen.
“Now, it seems like there’s a chance we’ll see kids in groups of 10 in June, and a chance that by July we could have groups of 50. Now, I can envision anything. I think everybody has a motivation to play. That’s a positive thing. Momentum is good.
“Just like a lot of things in society, we’re figuring things out.”
Batavia coach Dennis Piron spent the week sorting out potential plans for summer practice.
Part of his heart, though, was somewhere else.
“The state track meet is where I would have been coaching this weekend, so it stinks,” Piron said. “With football, as things come along, we’re going to work with whatever steps we’re provided.
“Our kids have been doing