For as long as Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones can remember, West Virginia’s high school students had to have at least a 2.0 grade-point average if they wished to participate in an extracurricular activity.
But that requirement was temporarily waived this week by Clayton Burch, the superintendent of schools in the Mountain State, because of experienced struggles with remote learning throughout the 55 counties. The revised policy runs through March 19 for winter sports, but then grade reviews will begin again, and the 2.0 requirement will be back in place.
That decision does not sit well with Jones or Ohio County Schools Superintendent Dr. Kim Miller.
“We did not support that decision in Ohio County because we feel we’ve had a lot of our students who have worked very hard to make sure they have the grades that allow them to play,” Jones said. “They have put in extra time with the teachers, but now they could have done nothing and still be eligible to play. We just don’t think that’s right.
“We’re going to have more discussions about that issue here in the county so we can decide what we will follow in Ohio County,” he said. “The rules were in place for a long time, and those rules are very well known by our students and their parents, so to wipe them out at this point just doesn’t seem very fair to the kids who have put in the work.”
Choices and Decisions
High school winter team members were allowed to condition this week and are permitted to begin practicing on Monday, Feb. 15, and after the mandatory two weeks competition can begin again on March 3 for the basketball, swimming, and wrestling teams in West Virginia.
Conditioning for Wheeling Park participants, however, has been interrupted by Mother Nature.
“We’ve lost a few days because of all of the snow,” Jones said. “Conditioning is really important, and that’s why there was a push a few years ago to allow the fall teams to condition for a few weeks during the summer.
“But with the two weeks of practice that was mandated by the governor, those student-athletes will have the chance to play catch-up a little bit,” he said. “I don’t believe any of them will mind, either, because they’ll just be happy to be allowed to play again.”
Spring sports then will begin practice on March 15, including students playing baseball, softball and tennis, and running track. That state-developed plan, however, could force student-athletes to pick one sport over another.
“The kids that play both a winter sport and a spring sport are going to have to do double-time and work it out with their coaches to do both,” Junes explained. “All of our coaches are willing to let them do both in these circumstances, but I think it’s still going to prove difficult for some of them because if a basketball player also plays baseball, and both sports have practice on the same day, the student is going to have to choose.
“But these days most of the kids have a main sport that they concentrate on, so that might make those decisions easier for them,” he said. “We’re just going to have to work through those situations and make it as positive as it can be. It’s definitely going to be an interesting spring and summer; that’s for sure.”
The New Normal?
Covid-19 ended last year’s basketball season without the crowning of girls’ and boys’ champions, and the virus caused a complete cancelation of all spring sports. Wheeling Park High’s football team compiled a 7-1 record to win the 5-A OVAC division and to qualify for the postseason. The Patriots, however, were eliminated before the playoffs began by the coronavirus statistics in the county at the time.
The numbers worsened across the state in November, forcing the state Second Schools Activities Commission to name champions without playing the Super Six. All extracurricular activities have been banned since, but Jones is optimistic about the restart of athletics and other student functions.
“The big fear we had a couple of weeks ago was that we will only have a six-week season, and if the county goes red again on the state’s Covid map, it’s going to feel as if you last the whole season,” Jones said. “The good news is that lately we’ve seen Ohio County’s numbers decrease to the point to where we’ve been able to have in-person classes because we’ve been in the gold and yellow categories.
“Most of our teachers have been vaccinated, too, and we’ve made sure our winter coaches have been, too,” he said. “We just have to hope that is the case in all of West Virginia’s counties.”
Under ordinary circumstances, high school teams would compete at least twice per week and hold practices in between, but that will not be possible for winter sports in 2021. Spring sports, though, can compete beyond June 6, when classes will end for the academic year, and the postseasons are set for late June.
“The basketball teams should be able to play at least 16 games, and that’s not too bad because their season is usually 21 games,” Jones said. “But it is a small window, and that means there will be fewer practices because they will have a game every other day. They will get to play a lot, and I think it will be a lot of fun for everybody, but there’s a lot of work that takes place during the practices, so it’s definitely going to be different.
“Wrestling, I expect, will be just fine because the travel teams have been allowed to compete this whole time,” he continued. “Most of those kids have been wrestling like crazy, so they should be ready to go when practice starts on Monday. The swim team was not allowed to be in the pool, so they will be behind when they are allowed to start next week. At the same time, I know the coaches and kids are really excited to finally get going, and that’s been good to see.”
