Basha parents want AIA’s restriction gone
Jason Stella and his wife Holli felt helpless not being allowed in at Queen Creek Casteel High School last Friday night for their son’s soccer game because of the COVID-19 protocol that prevents visiting team parents from attending.
On a live stream, their hearts raced as they watched in agony their son getting knocked unconscious during his varsity soccer game.
Chandler Basha sophomore goalkeeper Gavin Stella made a diving save. In the process he was kneed in the nose and eye socket. For more than a minute, Stella was on the ground unconscious.
There was nothing his parents could do but watch on a live stream from a camera angle as far back as the press box with players surrounding their son.
Gavin’s parents weren’t there because of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s COVID-19 restrictions that limit crowds to only two parents or guardians for home teams only. No visiting team parents are allowed to attend winter sports contests.
At the emergency room, there was fear of a hemorrhage of the frontal lobe of his brain, so Gavin was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where that was ruled out, Jason said.
Gavin had surgery to repair multiple orbital bone fractures and a broken nose. He ended up spending five nights in the hospital, Jason said, because the caps placed on his son’s eyes during surgery were left on for about 17 hours afterwards, causing temporary blindness. His vision has improved and Gavin was released Wednesday from the hospital.
It was a frightening ordeal that prompted Jason Stella to send two emails to the AIA asking for the visiting team parents’ restrictions policy removed. It also prompted Tiffany Hunt, the mother of a daughter who plays on Basha’s girls soccer team, to start an online petition to remove the restriction that garnered 900 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.
Because Jason Stella didn’t hear back from the AIA after the first email, Stella sent a second one. He share the email with The Arizona Republic. It read:
“Good morning and hope all of you are well. I am writing to inform you of what occurred Friday night at the Basha vs. Casteel Varsity soccer game.
“My son, Gavin Stella who is a sophomore and a goalie on the Varsity Soccer team at Basha dove to make a save and caught a knee to his Eye socket and nose. He was knocked unconscious for about a minute or two and was on the field for about 15 minutes prior to moving him off. ALL OF THIS WAS BEING WATCHED BY MY WIFE AND I OVER A LIVE STREAM.
“We had no idea what to do or what the severity of the injury was and were about 20 minutes away from Casteel
High School.
“From the time of the injury, to the time we received a phone call and made it to the field, it was about 45 to 50 minutes. ALL OF THIS WHILE THERE WAS MAYBE 50 PEOPLE IN THE HOME STANDS AND NO ONE IN THE AWAY STANDS.
“Can you imagine if this game was at Brophy High School or Desert Ridge High School (all games that will be coming soon) and it took almost 45 to 60 minutes to drive to the game? That would put us in a position to not be with our sons or daughters and to make decisions for close to 90 + minutes.”
Stella went on to commend the Casteel athletic trainer and medical people in the email, before adding, “How could Football allow 1000+ people in both stands, but soccer, which typically never has more than 200 at best?”
“Why are you putting our kids and the decision their parents should have to make at risk, when social distancing and masks can easily be applied to ALL GAMES if you allow two parents from both teams (home and away) in the outdoor stands,” Stella wrote. “As we watch California, Chicago and other high COVID
areas open up, you can not tell me that allowing an extra 50 to 100 parents at away games (when they can easily socially distance and wear masks in outdoor stands) is going to be the cause for a rise in cases.
“With all this said, I hope that we can use this unfortunate incident to change the outdoor sport restrictions IMMEDIATELY. You need to allow parents from the away team to attend games. This is putting an increased risk to our kids and decisions that sometimes need to be made immediately.”
AIA Executive Director David Hines said he understands the parents’ concerns.
“We are constantly looking at numbers, communicating with medical people,” Hines said. “The fact that we are even able to be playing is a minor miracle. The only reason we could move forward was certain protocols had to be put in place. It’s not even 10 days into the winter season.
“Are we getting to a little past the winter vacations where have knew be really high or proven to be really high? If things continue to trend down, we’ll certainly address any modification we have in place, I would prefer not have to wear a mask during play or in the case this have visiting parents. The fact that we even have any parents in the stands is a blessing. Part of it I understand the concerns, but we have to understand where we’re at as a state. We have to have these mitigations in place to play. We’ll continue to evaluate. You can’t just put a finger on a date to say we’ll make a change.”
Arizona has been ranked No. 1 in the country for COVID-19 infections the last week.
On Thursday, the AIA will meet with its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, which had recommended not to have a winter sports season until the the metrics were back to where they were in September, when football could begin competition on Oct. 1.
“We understand where we are in the world right now,” Hines said. “We ask for opinions. They (SMAC) probably have the most accurate numbers and the best sense of where we’re going.
“It’s not an end-all. They just tell us their thoughts. They are experts in athletics. We have to pay attention to their thoughts and concerns and the direction. And with that, then the board can make decisions based on all of the information they have.”