No school sports this fall?
For weeks, high school athletes in Butler County have been settling into a new normal.
Temperature checks. Masks. Social distancing. Disinfecting everything.
All to make sure fall sports seasons happen.
The predominant feeling was things were right on track.
Until Gov. Tom Wolf threw a false start flag at the end of his news conference Thursday morning, recommending fall sports be paused until at least Jan. 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
That statement sent the PIAA, the state's athletic governing body, into a frenzy and jolted school administrators, coaches and athletes into a state of confusion.
“Just like everyone else, (I'm) shocked this would happen so close to the start of fall sports season,” said Mars Area High School athletic director and head football coach Scott Heinauer.
“All high schools came up with plans,” he added. “We followed ours exactly and all of our athletes were excited to get their seasons started ... and now this happened, just when everyone thought it seemed to be getting back to somewhat of a normal state.”
The PIAA board of directors scrambled to hold an emergency meeting mid-afternoon Thursday and decided to table any action until after another meeting, which was scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Wolf also released clarification on the governor's official website later Thursday.
“The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Department of Education today jointly recommended that pre-K–12 school and recreational youth sports be postponed until at least Jan. 1, 2021, to protect children and teens from COVID-19,” the statement read.
“The administration is providing this strong recommendation and not an order or mandate.”
The recommendation may have sweeping ramifications across multiple sports seasons.
Should the PIAA decide to postpone the fall sports season and reschedule it for the winter and spring, it will have an effect on those sports seasons as well.One model has winter sports taking place in January and February, fall sports in March and April and spring sports in May and June.Not everyone is on board with that solution.“I'm not a big proponent of pushing fall sports back to the spring,” said Butler Area High School athletic director Bill Mylan. “I just don't think that's fair to the kids who play multiple sports. I just don't see how you could make that work.”Garry Cathell, executive director of the Pennsylvania High School Football Coaches, said if fall sports are postponed until after Jan. 1, the organization has every intention of playing football in the spring.“Absolutely. We're going to try,” Cathell said. “We've had a whole lot of discussion with a lot of people, both positive and negative. We want the kids to have an opportunity to have a season.”Cathell said those plans would be contingent on the blessing from the PIAA.“We wouldn't do anything without the PIAA's approval,” he said. “We're in unprecedented times right now and no one wants to step on anyone's toes.”Cathell also said some season is better than no season.“I've been told, 'Well, trying to jam these fall sports into spring takes away from the group of kids who have already had their spring season affected,” Cathell said. “We want all kids to have a season. I think calmer heads will prevail. We have to realize the bad guy is COVID-19 and not anyone else.”
Meghan Lucas is a K-4 STEAM teacher in the Butler Area School District. She's also the head high school girls volleyball coach and has two daughters, eighth-grader Sarah and senior Sophia, who play sports.The uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic has affected her and her family more than most.Lucas stopped trying to predict the future long ago.“I try to just stay on the fence,” she said. “We're all waiting for some guidance. I think everyone, not just sports, but school, needs some guidance — much better than just recommendations or 'we kind of think this,' or 'we kind of think that.'”“Someone needs to make a decision,” Lucas added. “I know it's a difficult thing to do, but not making one puts a lot of people in limbo.”And it also puts a lot of people under a lot of stress, administrators and coaches said.They see what the roller coaster has done to the kids' psyche.“At this point, you worry for their mental and emotional health,” Mylan said.Lucas has seen the wear on her own children.“My heart goes out to all the kids,” she said.Butler has conducted practices across multiple sports since June 24, when the school board approved its athletic health and safety plan.The school has had no positive tests for COVID-19.Mars has also cruised through its sports reopening without incident, Heinauer said.“It's just heartbreaking to see kids work this hard and now all this is taken away,” he said. “I do understand why and know it's for their health and safety. Of our athletes, we have been fortunate at Mars with over 600 athletes participating for six weeks and no positive test results.”Lucas' team has had 19 practices with no incident.She said because of that, the news from Wolf came as a gut punch.“I think Butler has done a great job,” Lucas said. “I had no worries or problems at all. I felt like we were in a good place and we could go right into the season. I don't know what will happen now.”Not many do.
Mylan isn't sure what the PIAA will decide Friday.He just hopes for a definitive answer one way or the other.“My guess, personally, is they are going to leave it up to the individual districts,” he said. “That puts things in a real chaotic state, in my opinion.”Uniontown in Fayette County announced this week it would not field sports teams this fall. Many more could follow if it is left up to districts to decide.Athletes have swiftly made their thoughts known.An online petition pleading with the PIAA not to heed Wolf's recommendation received 75,000 signatures in just two hours Thursday afternoon.The WPIAL had already pushed back the start of fall sports several weeks, while District 9 and 10 decided to move on as originally scheduled.Mylan had spent three days revamping the Butler athletic schedules.Now, he may have to start over, crafting schedules to fill in the blanks of schools that opt out or for three sports seasons crammed into six months starting in January.“I've never done so much work that's been undone in my life,” he said.“This whole thing,” Mylan said, “is disappointing.”
