There remains an ever-so-slight chance student/athletes from West Virginia high schools could compete before the end of the school year, and that is one reason why Bernie Dolan has yet to officially pull the plug.
Dolan, the executive director of the West Virginia Second Schools Activities Commission, has deep roots with Ohio County Schools, so he is well aware of the desire possessed by student-athletes to have something of a semblance of a spring sports season. But is that possible, even if public and Catholic schools return to classrooms on May 1?
“If there is anything possible, it’s going to look significantly different than it has in the past,” Dolan explained. “If the kids can go back on May 1, we would start the spring sports on May 4 because of how long they have been out of school, and we also would not waive the rule we have about having practice for at least two week prior to the beginning of the spring.
“That means the first day that a baseball or softball game, or a track meet, could take place would be May 20,” he said. “We have moved spring sports into June before, and that took place back in 1994, when we had the measles that a lot of the kids came down with. The state track meet that year actually did not take place until June 16-17, so if that happens again this year, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
What It Could Look Like
Once upon a time ago when a coronavirus didn’t hold captive the world, student-athletes in baseball, tennis, softball, and track would have started their seasons at this time of year and would have continued until the OVAC postseasons, sectional and regional competition, and then state championship events.
At this point, though, the regular season would be abbreviated, and the playoff would extend into June just like it did 17 years ago.
“The seasons would be very tight if we are allowed back into the schools after April 30,” Dolan said. “There would be a short season, and then we would move it quickly into the tournament time.
“Now, it is awfully late to be able to pull that off, so that means it would have to make some concessions along the way, and that’s only if the decision is made as far as whether or not we could pull that off,” he continued. “Those events have a lot of moving parts, so that’s a discussion that would need to take place.”
If the SSAC were to offer the same spring championship experience for this year’s qualifiers, the facilities must be available, as well.
“And checking to see if the facilities we use for those spring championships are ready for use is one thing, and then the dates would come into play,” Dolan said. “Right now, there’s no reason for us to check on those dates because we really have no idea what decision the governor will make when the April 30 date is approaching.
“I’ll be honest, it would be a tough sell to everyone who is involved with making that decision, so I really can’t tell you what to expect even if the kids are allowed to go back to the classrooms for the last bit of the year,” he said. “And there’s no real reasons for the SSAC to make any sort of official statement right now, and that’s why we’ve not said anything about it until now.”
Hope for Hoops?
There was a plan, but a pandemic smothered it.
There is a new plan just in case.
“Our plan if the students were allowed to go back on March 21 was to get the girls’ championships moving forward in Charleston, and to get the boys regional events scheduled so they could move forward with the postseason, too,” Dolan said. “We also had all of the spring sports scheduled to get started with a little bit of overlap for the student-athletes, but we felt it could have worked out.”
But what about the recommended precautions as society eases back into competition, crowds, and in-persona communication?
“Now, the number of fans that would be allowed is an unknown factor right now, and I can tell you that it would be very difficult to have social distancing take place during a track meet,” Dolan explained. “Right now, we can’t contemplate any plans for the completion of the basketball season and how we could make the spring sports work because so much changes day-to-day. I know there have been legislative leaders who have strongly suggested that the governor just close the public schools for the rest of the year, but he’s refused to do that because he believes there’s still a chance. So, just like with everything else, it’s a wait-and-see situation.”
Pulling the Plug
Ultimately, the decision is not up to the executive director of the SSAC. If there is a chance to salvage something, though, Bernie Dolan is going to do everything possible.
“We have a little less than a month before that decision really does have to be made, so right now, we’re just following the numbers, listening to the governor when he offers his updates, and going from there. At this point, we couldn’t make a statement today about tomorrow because of the way the coronavirus has spread throughout the country and in our own state,” he said. “But, when the governor and his advisors tell us it is safe for the kids to go back to school, that will cue us to look at what is possible from that point.
“We have made some plans based on the first closure order that was issued, and that plan, of course, was pushed back once Gov. Justice added to the closure period,” he added. “We’re staying on top of it, but at this point it’s really difficult to say if spring sports will actually happen or not.”
