Tucson football parents reach their boiling point
While some Southern Arizona high school districts are looking to open the football season next week, some are still on hold, following the Pima County Health Department’s guidelines.
Last week, after schools had posted schedules on the Arizona Interscholastic Association with the start date for the first football games Oct. 30, the Pima County health officials sent a letter to the Tucson-area superintendents, recommending that contact sports not be conducted until the COVID-19 community spread levels was down to 10 or fewer cases per 100,000 people.
That number had become unrealistic to the point that the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee changed that metric to 75 per 100,000 so that the AIA could begin its football season on Oct. 1.
Pima County has been below the 75 metric per 100,000.
The decision to put a hold on the season again has some parents in Tucson sending emails to district superintendents, asking to let their kids play.
Tucson Unified and the Amphitheater districts have yet to give a go-ahead on starting football games, while Vail and Sahuarita districts in Southern Arizona have decided to move forward with games beginning Oct. 30.
“We’re just trying to flood them with emails and hammer them with the most positive emails on how kids are working
so hard and deserve to play,” said Andy Skaggs, the father of Sabino senior quarterback A.J. Skaggs, one of the top quarterbacks in the state who has started on varsity since his freshman year.
Andy Skaggs said that he feels like teams were blindsided by the Pima County Health Department last week, calling the terms to play “unrealistic.”
“The numbers are not out of control,” he said. “Kids at practice are doing what they’re told to do. Please stop punishing them.”
Jenny Skaggs, A.J.’s mom, who is president of the Sabino football booster club, said that a parents group from various Southern Arizona districts met Sunday to develop a plan to try to help their kids to be able to have a season.
“They’ve tied our hands behind our back,” she said. “We’re trying to get our voices heard on that end. There’s a larger impact on the kids, kids who spent their entire lives on playing this game. They’ve worked so hard. Spent months and months training. I don’t understand how Phoenix is playing and their numbers are higher. It’s already taken a toll mentally on our kids. The only reason to show up every day to get good grades is to be able to play football. Some kids if driven to succeed, this is the only way to get an opportunity to play in college.”
Andy said his son has been told by college coaches that they want to see his senior game film before offering a scholarship. “It’s day by day, but I can tell you he’s frustrated,” Andy said. “He doesn’t know if he even wants to play football. We told him transfer. He said, ‘No. If I don’t play at Sabino, I’m not even going to play.’
“I told him to take a step back. ‘You dreamed of playing college football since you were playing. Don’t let society and the pandemic affect you.’ “
A.J. said that he never figured this would go so long without football after the pandemic hit in March. That shut down spring ball. Most Tucson schools went through the summer without organized teams workouts on campus.
“We have been working our entire lives for this moment and the season,” A.J. said. “It is also very crucial for college recruitment and getting schools to see our senior film.
“Without this, we don’t stand a chance up against schools that are already four or five games into the season with lots of film. We have been taking precautions and following all of the guidelines with zero cases on our team. So it’s very frustrating to see schools all over the country playing games when our season is still in jeopardy.”
Oro Valley Canyon del Oro senior running back Steve Rocker has his college future set, after committing to the University of Arizona. But his mom,
Sandra, is going to bat for his teammates and others in Southern Arizona who haven’t gotten to play under the Friday night lights this season.
“I’m very disappointed that this has become individualized,” Sandra Rocker said. “All the districts have been individualized in Tucson. In reality, they’re Southern Arizona down here. It’s gotten to the point that I’m shocked that it is individualized. That’s one of my big beefs. The other one is that they have scheduled games on the 30th (of October). I know these boys have to have so many hours of contact to be ready to prevent injuries. If they’re worried about COVID causing parents to sue, that’s the least of their situation, if they’re not properly trained and get injured.”
On Monday, during the AIA Executive Board monthly meeting, the Southern Arizona fall football alternative season was passed with the season extended until Dec. 18.