By GEORGE KUNKE
Tuesday, July 28, 2020 12:33 pm
|
SOUTH BEND - Under the coronavirus pandemic circumstances, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) is doing the best it can to enable high school sports continuing during the 2020-21 academic seasons. Tentatively, depending on the state of affairs throughout the Evergreen State, there will be sports in not three, but four sanctioned seasons as proposed by the WIAA Executive Board last Tuesday (July 21). The WIAA is moving "moderate-and high-risk team sports," originally scheduled for the fall season, to WIAA Season 3.
For local sports enthusiasts in Pacific County, only cross country will be offered in Season 1. The first date for practice is the week of Sept. 7, moved from August 24. The WIAA is still working on the dates when the four seasons will run.
The four proposed seasons include:
WIAA Season 1: Cross Country, Slowpitch Softball, Girls Swimming and Diving*, Golf (Alternative Season), Tennis (Alternative Season);
WIAA Season 2: Basketball, Bowling, Boys Swimming and Diving, Gymnastics, Cheerleading, Wrestling;
WIAA Season 3: Volleyball, Girls Soccer, 1B/2B Boys Soccer, Football;
WIAA Season 4: Tennis, Fastpitch Softball, Track and Field, Baseball, Golf, Boys Soccer, Dance/Drill.
Two former athletic directors from South Bend and Willapa Valley offered their time and thoughts about the four season format.
"I think WIAA did the best they could," Ravens Offensive and Defensive Backs Assistant Coach Tom Sanchez told the Herald Sunday. "They provided the possibility of all of the sports in the state to take place, even though they might not occur when they normally would. Basically, they provided a possibility for the 'lower-risk' sports this fall, and bought time for the rest of them by waiting until after Christmas. Hopefully, we will be able to have sports as they are scheduled by WIAA."
"The way things are right now, at least half seasons are better than no seasons," Willapa Valley HS Head Girls Basketball Coach John Peterson told the Herald.
"It's certainly not what everybody wants. They are doing what they have to do. Is it ideal? No. it's a tough situation. It does give us some type of hope.
"It's weird without football in the fall," Peterson said. "Is it ideal? No. But it's better than saying we can't play."
Some critics might ask why the WIAA didn't put some of the spring sports in the fall since student-athletes lost their seasons. Peterson pointed out that if they were cancelled in the fall, then they'd have lost two seasons. This way the pandemic might ease up by spring and clear the way for the Season 4 sports.
"It's easy to take potshots at the WIAA," Peterson said. "They are good people. They want the kids to play. Is what they did ideal? No. Do I like it? No. It is what it is. This was a hard decision. They thought it out as well as they could. I would not have wanted to make that decision. It's easy to say, 'I know what I'd do.'
They are good people and they thought this out and put a lot of thought into it. I'm gonna trust they did the right thing."
Pre-Practice for all sports is one week except for football, which has two weeks. According to the WIAA website, the tentative starting and closing dates for the four seasons include: Season 1 (Sept. 7), Season 2 (Jan. 4), Season 3 (March 8), and Season 4 (April 26).
The WIAA noted that the "viability of girls' swim and dive taking place in WIAA Season 1 is dependent on more information from the Department of Health (DOH)."
The remaining fall sports of football, volleyball, 1B/2B boys soccer, and girls' soccer, will be scheduled to start in early spring of 2021.
Of course everything is rather tentative depending on Gov. Inslee's Safe Start plan. Gov. Jay Inslee announced July 14 he would temporarily stop allowing counties to move to new coronavirus reopening phases as infections climb around Washington. The pause will last through at least July 28.
Yesterday, the WIAA's board was scheduled to create benchmarks to be met in order for Season 1 to start. If not met, the board will plan to move the remainder of fall sports to Season 3.
Winter sports will all take place in Season 2 possibly in late December or early January. Then the traditional spring sports will finish off the school year with Season 4.
In a press release WIAA Executive Director Mick Hoffman said, "Since March, the philosophy of our Association has been to allow students every chance to participate. We've asked our Executive Board and planning committees to be as creative as possible in allowing for those opportunities. These are tough and unprecedented decisions to make, but it has been inspiring to see so many people around the state come together to work on behalf of students."
The WIAA Executive Board and planning committees are working under the Return-To-Activity Guidelines supported and co-authored by the National Federation of High Schools, Washington (DOH) and Gov. Inslee's office, along with sport-specific guidelines set forth by WIAA committees made up of coaches, athletic directors, officials, local health professionals and students. Those guidelines can be found on the WIAA website.