Getting back to work: After lost spring season, summer practice permitted to resume

By Josh Brown of Miami Valley Today

https://www.tdn-net.com/sports/83892/getting-back-to-work-after-lost-spring-season-summer-practice-permitted-to-resume

MIAMI COUNTY — For months, the practice fields have been dormant.

That’s all finally changing.

After the climax of the Ohio High School Athletic Association winter sports postseason was cut short and the entirety of spring sports season was canceled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Ohio’s high school sports teams are allowed to practice once again in some fashion or another as of Tuesday. And even though there are still limitations to that and rules to follow to help everyone involved to remain safe, it still serves as a beacon of hope after a difficult few months.

“I think people are definitely excited. It’s not all doom and gloom anymore,” Troy High School Athletic Director Dave Palmer said. “If we’re able to get back to some form of athletics and just start seeing the kids again, it’ll be a positive step. And even though there’s guidelines to follow to stay safe, it’s a lot better than being stuck sitting around the house doing nothing.”

There have been no OHSAA-sanctioned sports since March 12 when the winter sports postseason tournaments were indefinitely postponed and eventually canceled. The start of the spring season was delayed, as well, and officially canceled on April 20 as the state’s school buildings as facilities were forced to close for the remainder of the school year.

But on May 14, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that low-to-no-contact sports practices and games could resume on May 26, and on May 21 that announcement extended to skills training and conditioning for the contact sports — meaning everyone could get back to work in one way or another.

“We’ve been out for more than two full months,” Piqua High School Athletic Director Chip Hare said. “While some of the kids have seen each other during that time, most haven’t, and this is the first time that they’ve all been able to get together and do something as a team.”

And while most schools were not able to resume workouts right away on Tuesday, Piqua was able to get started.

“The Miami Valley League just had a meeting today, and most of the teams said that they’re starting next week. Of the 10 schools, three were able to start on Tuesday — and we were one of them,” Hare said. “We are fortunate to have an athletic trainer that is a teacher (Katie Smith), while most schools’ trainers are still working for hospitals during the pandemic. She’s been able to help us with the transition.”

And so far, that transition has been a successful one.

“We’ve had great energy among all the kids and coaches and a great turnout,” Hare said.

Troy, meanwhile, will be getting started next week.

“We submitted our plan to the health department and it was approved, so we’ll be able to go on Monday. And we’re really excited,” Palmer said. “We’re excited to take one small step toward getting back to some form of athletics.”

Troy will begin practices at 7 a.m. on Monday broken down into hourly groups, with those groups broken down into smaller groups of 10 each.

“Each group will come in at the top of the hour, get their health screenings and then divide up into their pods of 10,” Palmer said. “Then then next group will come in, and the next, and so on.”

And while no official announcements regarding fall sports — whether the season will be delayed or not, whether fans will be allowed to attend games, etc. — area teams know just how important getting back to the practice field is.

“We’re just trying to get kids out and doing something right now,” Hare said. “We’re not looking for an edge in getting kids to compete at a championship level or anything. For us, it’s important to get kids out, get them engaged, get them active and get them reconnecting those bonds with their teammates and coaches and mentors.”

But it’s not just the fall sports teams that need the work, either.

“It’s not just the fall sports athletes. The basketball players can start weight lifting … summer is important for everybody,” Palmer said.

And even though practices are permitted for all sports and games are for non-contact sports like baseball and softball, the coronavirus threat hasn’t just disappeared. So the area schools know the importance of following the guidelines and ensuring everyone stays safe so that this first positive step can lead to a next step, and a next step, and so on.

“Our goal right now is to get the kids out, engaged, connected and just build some form of conditioning foundation. We don’t want to try to get back everything we’ve lost in one week. And we also want to make sure we keep people safe,” Hare said.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Palmer said. “Hopefully this step goes well, and then we’ll keep moving forward.”