We need creativity to have high school sports seasons in NC. Here’s our plan
On Tuesday, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper released his plan for the reopening of schools in the state during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Students will have a mix of in-person and remote learning, with those decisions left to local school districts.
Cooper said the decision on restarting N.C. public high school sports will made by the N.C. High School Athletic Association.
A few thoughts to offer ahead of the NCHSAA’s decision, which is expected in the coming weeks.
▪ Some kids are and have been working out, bumping against each other, sharing balls, basically doing what they were doing to get ready for the 2019 season. They are not always having temperature checks, stationed six feet apart or doing such things as using gloves and different balls.
For a large swath of kids, they are going to go out and work out, without many restrictions at all, without school sports. They are also participating in live 7-on-7 football leagues, travel basketball and other events. High school athletics could create a safer haven for those students. Many would not continue to take part in activities that, in some cases, wouldn’t be as safe, or as well-run, as in the school setting.
And if there are no high school sports, student-athletes can join travel or pay-for-play leagues, some of which have already announced plans to replace NCHSAA athletics if they do not occur. In some cases, these could be fine alternatives. But in some cases, we don’t think they will be.
▪ We keep hearing that if there is remote learning, there will be no sports. Why do we have to adhere to old ways of thinking? Rules get changed every day. This is a new thing, this COVID-19 pandemic. It might be safer to have sports where kids are only around other kids during practices, instead of during the school day, too.
Also, make practice shorter, and make games shorter. No more 12-minute football quarters, just for this season, and make regular seasons shorter. We might also limit the numbers of players on teams, to help with social distancing.
So for football, go with 10-minute quarters and eight-game seasons. Fans? Yes.
You can go to the park to walk and see people spaced out. You can socially distance at a football stadium with limited numbers of fans just as easily. High schools need that fan revenue, even if it’s not as much as normal.
▪ We would love to see high school football in the fall, even if the season had to start later than normal, but that doesn’t seem like a viable option. Why? It doesn’t look safe for contact sports this fall. College leagues are already contracting or canceling. COVID-19 numbers are rising throughout the country.
A lot of people are in favor of moving spring sports, which are largely non-contact, to the fall and moving fall sports to spring. It’s time to do that, in order to allow those teams to begin to make plans, schedule and, eventually, train.
So our plan would consider non-contact sports like baseball and softball in the fall along with track, boys and girls tennis, and boys and girls golf.
Basketball, wrestling and swimming would remain in the winter. For this season only, we would cancel indoor track season, which is also a traditional winter sport.
Finally, in spring, you’d have football, boys and girls soccer, field hockey, volleyball, lacrosse and cross-country. It would take creative scheduling, particularly in larger school systems — sharing fields, perhaps using county parks and middle school fields, but it could be done to get these kids a season.
So that would be Plan A.
And if we did that, and fall sports couldn’t launch or had to stop shortly after they started, then go to Plan B.
Plan B would be to launch winter sports in January and give those sports a shortened season, followed by traditional fall sports for a shortened season, including football. Finally, traditional spring sports would get a shortened season. This would probably require the baseball and softball playoffs to extend past school graduation into late June.
Some states did that very thing last year.
Last point: If the COVID-19 numbers dramatically improved somehow during the fall, then schools could start winter sports at their traditional November timeline, which would allow each sport to enjoy a more elongated season under Plan B.
It’s going to take creative thinking to have sports this fall and this school year. But it’s certainly worth trying.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 6:08 PM with the headline "We need creativity to have high school sports seasons in NC. Here’s our plan."
