Gov. Cuomo, Just Give us THE PLAN, Please
I cannot imagine a world without high school football, without Friday Night Lights at Somers and Yorktown High, without Putnam County bigwigs Carmel and Mahopac packing the stands, without a Saturday afternoon at Parkway Field on Marble Avenue in Pleasantville. But I’m starting to realize that I may have to.
In a normal year, this would be the week where sports editors and writers would begin to go full throttle at the 2020 high school football campaign with previews and opinions. Surely, Somers All-NYS RB/LB Jack Kaiser would adorn the cover of our Northern Westchester edition this week.
Instead, I’m sitting here on a rainy Sunday afternoon watching another woeful Mets game wondering about the potential of having the high school football season postponed until the spring
of 2021. That’s actually on the table.
The California Interscholastic Federation recently announced the start of its high school football season will be delayed until December or January, so it’s just a matter of time before King Andrew Cuomo announces a similar plan for New York State. We need an actual plan moving forward.
I get it, Cuomo is flying without radar here, as we all are under the COVID-19 restrictions. But sports is such a big part of our student-athletes’ lives, and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) can’t formulate a plan without his say-so.
Any decision against having a high school football season – plus soccer, field hockey, volleyball and cross country – will kill the morale of every school district in the state. That’s what’s at stake here.
You would think that New York’s low infection rate, which has remained below 1 percent for 10 consecutive days through Sunday, would allow high school sports a chance to start, considering the fact that club, travel and recreational sports have advanced and succeeded without spiking cases. The results and progress we’ve made in New York should force some changes and adjustments to the fall sports season.
If we follow data, common sense and science, we would likely have a 100 percent chance of having a delayed high school sports season this fall, but since this virus has become politicized some local leaders seem to favor politics, agenda and hysteria, which leaves us with a 50-50 chance for high school sports this fall.
“One thing I’ve learned over the course of the last five or six months is don’t try to predict,” said NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas. “Every sport has its challenges. Gov. Cuomo announced schools can reopen in the fall. No final decision has been made on interscholastic athletics. We look forward to continuing our discussions with state officials and advocating for the safe return of high school sports.”
My gut tells me we won’t see a fall season, which would be an absolute travesty and totally unjust. I pray I’m wrong because the mental and physical health of our student-athletes is every bit as important as the precautions against the coronavirus. The case numbers between the time schools open in early September and Sept. 21 – the date the NYSPHSAA has circled as the first day of practice for the fall season – could determine whether or not we have an ounce of hope for the fall sports campaign.
“We’re trying to stay hopeful, but each passing day makes it more difficult,” Lakeland field hockey Coach Sharon Sarsen admitted.
The NYSPHSAA has already canceled all fall championships, concerned about exposing athletes, officials and fans to people from all parts of the state before they return to potentially infect their home region. I get all that. It’s necessary, but we can’t afford to tell our student-athletes that they need to wait until 2021 to get back in the groove, especially the non-contact sports like cross country, tennis and field hockey.
No matter the outcome, there are about 562,000 student-athletes in New York State who deserve some direction from Cuomo. Throw these kids a bone.
Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties, including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage. He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007.
Visit Ray’s author bio page for more details. Also read Ray’s archived work here and his Direct Rays column here.
