SCREECHING HALT
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday placed a temporary ban on sports for public and private schools as well as club, travel, recreational and intramural levels.
The ban applies to all games, practices and tournaments until Jan. 4
The decision came one day after the PIAA decided to go ahead with the start of winter sports competitions despite concerns from both the Pennsylvania Principals Association and Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.
Now, local athletic directors are left wondering how the winter sports season will proceed. The main question is when can competitions start up again?
On Wednesday, the PIAA established guidelines for teams that had to miss time due to COVID-19. For teams that missed seven consecutive practices, they would need two workouts before playing a game; three practices if missing 10; four if they missed 14.
“With us being shut down for three weeks, I’m thinking the PIAA will have to come up with something, as far as guidelines, for how to get back into competition,” Southern Columbia athletic director Jim Roth said. “The timing they were looking at were for shorter time frames.
“It’s going to have an effect on games and so forth, but the first thing that’s needed is finding out protocols about getting back to practice.”
Roth says there is no chance of games getting underway once the mandates are lifted, saying “We can only start practicing then. I think the PIAA is going to have to extend the season some.”
Bloomsburg athletic director Mike Kogut says it’s possible that teams could play a conference-only schedule once the season resumes.
“It’s all contingent on both how (District 4) and the PIAA want to go about playoffs,” he said. “I’m not sure if they’re going to give us the time back to play more games.”
Roth agreed that if the PIAA goes with a shorter schedule — as it did in the fall — teams won’t be able to get a full slate of games in.
“The regular season was set to end the second week of February. If we can’t practice until Jan. 4, you’re looking at a 6-week schedule,” Roth said. “I don’t see how you can get 22 games played in six weeks unless you play every other day.”
Despite the delay, both athletic directors are optimistic a season will be completed. They hope the number of virus cases will drop between now and March.
“In the fall, the concern was trying to get it done before the spike, playing our championships around Thanksgiving. It was a good call,” Roth said. “There weren’t a lot of issues then like there are now. If the virus is trending in the opposite direction, like we hope, by late winter, we could see spring getting pushed back some so winter can get a full season in, unlike last year.”
When competition was called off last March, only wrestling had crowned state champions. Spring sports were canceled entirely and the fall season was postponed two weeks and played with a smaller playoff field.
The PIAA announced it will do the same thing this season — only district champions qualify for state playoffs.
Athletes and coaches have grown used to changes being made to their athletic schedules but didn’t have as much of a setback.
“When they delayed the fall sports season, we were still able to hold voluntary workouts,” Kogut said. “For this delay, we can’t.”
Kogut says the student-athletes have been through a lot when it comes to playing sports in a pandemic. When addressing them about the news Thursday, he was confident they’d get through it.
“I’ve only been here a short time, since August. In the short experience, the kids have taught me that they can handle this with maturity,” Kogut said. “They’ve dealt with a great deal of adversity this year. They’re disappointed, but I know they’ll get through this.”
Prior to Wolf’s announcement, only Berwick had postponed its season. The Bulldogs were holding practice in the meantime.
Wolf said collegiate and professional sports teams may continue without spectators.
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