High school football
Area coaches make plans
PLYMOUTH - The recent announcement by the IHSAA setting July 1 as the date to “return” to athletic activities, with a suspension of the moratorium week of no contact normally imposed around that time, gave area high school athletes hope, but left just as many questions, especially for those involved with fall sports that would be starting to ramp up right about then.
Schools will not open to normal function until after June 30 as per the orders of the state of Indiana. With that in addition to the seven weeks already off, can athletes be ready to compete safely, even by late August?
“We’re all teachers first and football coaches second and honestly the whole focus right now has been on e-learning and getting our seniors to graduation and our other students to the next grade level,” said Plymouth football coach John Barron. “July is a long way off. I know that as an athletic department we will all sit down with (athletic director) Michael (Delp) and our strength coach, Curt Samuelson, and we’ll come up with a workout to send out to all of our athletes. I’m sure that for the beginning we will just be doing conditioning things outside. I don’t see the weight rooms or the locker rooms open for quite a while.”
While players have at their disposal any number of workouts and ways to stay in shape during the downtime, the question is how many have put the time in?
“Our coaching staff has been meeting weekly via Zoom meetings to discuss these types of things,” said Laville football head coach and AD Will Hostrawser. “Our first priority will be to assess where we are in terms of strength and cardio and move to improve that for each player. The next priority will be implementing our schemes by working on alignments, spacing, and timing. We can easily do that without pads. As coaches, we spoke about some ‘What if’s?’ Like what if we can only work in small groups of players at first? We have worked on a process for dividing players up and making the best of things, but we will cross that bridge if and when we come to it.”
“I’m as anxious as anybody to get rolling, but anybody that thinks we’re going to put on helmets and shoulder pads and go at it just because the IHSAA said they were suspending moratorium week is going to be disappointed,” said Barron.
“Remember this is all based on being at level five and all the other protocols the governor has set out when July 1 comes. This could all change tomorrow.”
“We really don’t do much in terms of football until July,” said Culver head football coach Mike Zehner. “Weights are the big thing until then. We are encouraging everyone to work out on their own. I hope we are not set back and they are holding themselves accountable. If everything goes as planned and no setbacks, I can see everything (regular season) starting on time.”
“I think like possibly two weeks before we would get helmets on anyone and I would say the most important thing would be working in the weight room and then doing sprinting,” said Glenn head coach Austin Foust, “I think this sets us back quite a bit because we have worked really hard to get all of our athletes in a weight class and now they are going to go months without stepping in the weight room.”
“Right now we are having Google Meet hangouts so we can stay connected for the ones that are able to,” said Triton football coach Rodney Younis. “Our student-athletes have in-home workouts they are expected to do on their own. Once we are able to get together then we will start issuing helmets out.”
“As far as getting kids in helmets and pads, I do not think that will take place until the very last week of July, if even by then,” said Hostrawser. “We would hand out equipment sooner but would not plan on using it prior to the end of July.”
Preparation for the season as with anything in the COVID-19 era is completely in the air.
“Let me start by saying we fully expect to start things up Aug. 3,” said Howstrawser. “I think that is the only mindset to hold in order to get yourself ready for things. However, if players choose to skip working out regularly it will for sure set us back, tremendously. Our staff has kept in close contact with our players across this time period to encourage them to work on their own at home. Each coach has a group of players they are responsible for communicating with a few times a week. This has worked very well. As a result, while conditions are not ideal, most of our guys have been doing the best they can with what they have.”
The other consideration is the stance of the Indiana Football Coaches Association. All fall sports coach associations in the
state will make a recommendation on the path forward to the IHSAA Commissioner.
“With the way our association has stressed the safety of our athletes, with the education on heat awareness and concussion protocols, it’s going to be about safety,” said Barron. “This is something that we’ve never seen. We have no idea how this is going to affect our kids. I can guarantee that we will stress caution and listening to the health professionals about what we do. If one kid is hurt by rolling out too early it’s a tragedy.”
“The IFCA focus on safety has a lot more to do with teaching proper technique and limiting contact, those things we as coaches can control,” said Hostrawser. “Battling the ‘invisible enemy’ in COVID-19 proves to be a bigger challenge for everyone in all walks of life. Regardless, I think we as coaches must prepare as if this season is starting on time. If we do not stay in that mindset, our players and teams will not be at their best.”
“It’s a situation that all schools will be dealing with,” said Younis. “I feel having the month of July will be sufficient enough. We may have to adjust the amount we put in early on, but with speaking to the players they are anxious to be able to do activities again. I feel we will have good participation during the month of July and we will be able to get ourselves ready for the start of the season.”
The bottom line for everybody is, will the season start on time?
“That is the million-dollar question,” said Foust. “I’m not sure anyone really knows. I feel like you can find information out there that makes you feel like we will start on time and then you can quickly find information that makes you feel like we won’t. But we are preparing as a coaching staff and team that we will be starting on time until they tell us we can’t.”
For all the coaches in the area, it’s pretty much one of those game-time decisions.
“We will prepare like we are (moving forward),” said Younis. “If things change then we will make our adjustments.”