Section 1 has yet to announce whether it will allow high school sports this fall or follow Nassau County’s lead and postpone everything until at least January.
But if it permits sports, per Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent directive, football, volleyball and cheerleading will be largely on indefinite hold, with only practices allowed for the foreseeable future. Despite arguments to the contrary, especially about volleyball, the state considers the three sports high risk for spreading the coronavirus.
The prospect of practice but no games could be a turnoff to athletes, but most coaches appear ready to proceed with as many weekly practice sessions as the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, the section and their schools will permit.
NYSPHSAA met this weekend to hammer out details for a return to sports.
“We have a plan, but everything is going to be predicted on what we're allowed to do,” said Clarkstown South football coach Mike Scarpelli. “How long can we practice for? How many hours can we be on the field? It might be twice a week? It might be all week? Maybe they say you can only do two hours. Maybe it can only be one hour. I have all these things typed out based on what the scenarios could be. When we find out, we will work backwards from that.
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"For a football coach, right now we have an A, B, C and D plan. … We'll be ready as far as the time constraints, the amount of people, the safety. When it's time, we'll be ready.”
One of the state’s most successful volleyball coaches, Hen Hud’s Diane Swertfager, whose team has won more than 600 matches and last fall claimed its 15th Section 1 title since 2000, said her sport’s high-risk characterization “stunned” her. She linked it to high school volleyball in New York being played indoors and remarked, “then maybe kids should not be in school” for on-campus classes.
Swertfager coached at a local indoor sports facility where 1,200 volleyball players played at various times over summer. No COVID-19 cases resulted, she said.
Still, she’s investigating use of a clear, plastic net covering to prevent the transfer of particles through the net from one player to another. She said the cover will be used this fall in Connecticut, which will allow both volleyball and football games to be played, although volleyball teams will be limited to 12 games and football teams to six.
Although not believing indoor play is dangerous, Swertfager also mentioned possibly holding some practices outdoors.
“We have to make this work," she said. "Keeping kids safe is our first priority and we know that."
Many you can/you can’t details are to come. But no matter the restrictions, she believes her kids will embrace training.
“Volleyball is such fun," she said. "We can keep the kids interested and motivated."
“But kids have to trust we are working toward a goal,” she added, referring to her hope some actual games will be allowed this fall.
Pelham volleyball coach Mark Finegan agrees.
He views the state’s OK for volleyball to practice as a sign “there has to be light at the end of the tunnel.”
Finegan hopes to run practices five days a week.
“As an educator, after all this time, to be able to give them an outlet to do something they love, boy, I’m going to do it,” Finegan said.
He plans to design multiple-drill practices, so they’re “game-like and competitive.”
Spring Valley football has lost its preseason two-a-day summer sessions, as well as summer 7-on-7 passing tournaments and its annual linemen competition.
But coach Andrew Delva is eager to hold fall practices up to six days a week and three hours a day. To him, the restrictions expected on some drills means: “We’re definitely going to have to become creative as coaches."
But he isn’t worried the changes, nor the absence of games, will dampen player enthusiasm.
“The kids want to practice,” Delva said. “They’re dying for any type of normalcy. They want to be with the coaches. They want to get together as a team.”
“(And), at the end of the day, we want to be as prepared as possible (for games),” Delva said.
Ardsley volleyball coach David Ponterio isn’t optimistic those games will occur in fall.
He said Ardsley plans a coach-athletic director discussion next week to address different scenarios. But Ponterio thinks it’s very possible volleyball games won’t be allowed until after December or January.
Explaining his athletes haven’t played in months, he said his initial emphasis at practice will be on conditioning with the use of cross-training.
“We want to avoid injuries at all cost,” Ponterio said.
Since he doesn't expect games anytime soon and said his squad would need only a traditional two-week window to fully prepare, Ponterio may run only practice two days a week to start.
Finegan didn’t rule out use of plastic net sheeting, nor having his players wear masks during practice. The former 20-year Pelham boys basketball coach, who is a current girls basketball assistant, suggested that allowing both games and practices could make volleyball a template for another indoor sport, winter basketball, in regard to what does and does not work.
But Ponterio said he believes pre-practice temperature checks and having kids wash their hands and arms before practice should provide adequate protection.
Whether the NYSPHSAA, Section 1 and/or his school will require more than that is still to be announced.
Alice Granger, John Jay-East Fishkill’s cheerleading coach the last 17 years who’s the president of Section 1 cheerleading coaches and is on the state cheerleading committee, lamented the hold on both cheerleading competitions and cheer squads cheering at games, but said, “At the same time, I kind of get it.”
She noted in competitive high school cheer, “girls are face-to-face, nose-to-nose” and there’s much synchronized, loud cheering.
Granger indicated coaches are ready to adapt their sport to current conditions and would remove some stunts from routines to get their squads back cheering at games and in competitions. She mentioned the possibility of doing “game day” style cheering, which is judged differently, involves very basic stunts and has participants spaced farther apart.
“It’s more about displaying school spirit and simplicity,” she said.
Granger said her team will likely practice three to four times weekly, but some schools will go five days a week.
Not practicing is not a thought
“If we lose a whole year, it will take years to get back (to current performance levels),” Granger said. She expressed hope that sometime during the school year – even as late as spring – her kids will be able to compete and to cheer at events.
She has mixed feelings about masks and the potential for cheerleaders to get snagged on others' masks. But she didn’t outright oppose the idea of using them and mentioned possibly having kids wear masks except when doing cheer routines that will force them to breathe particularly hard.
Granger and others coach should learn in the coming days what will be required and allowed. But most seem to be on the same page as Finegan – just anxious to get on the field or court.
“I’m totally open to anything we can get," he said. "I’d totally jump on that."
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey. Local sports relies on its readers. Subscribe to The Journal News/lohud.com .
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