It’s Better to Have Limped Than Not Walked at All

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

We’ve all seen it on the news. Everybody with a platform is pushing renewed COVID-19 fears and concerns with the recent statewide spikes, and rightly so, to a certain extent, because it’s real, people are still getting very ill and/or dying and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Consequently, educators, administrators, town officials, et al., were pushing the pause button on Section 1 and recreational sports as we went into the holiday break, despite the obvious mental and physical setbacks to student-athletes who cannot deal with another dose of this hide-and-hope-for-the-best mentality. Wisely, we mustn’t venture down this road again, or risk the built-in depression our children have dealt with for nearly two years now.

“I know in our district, the administration wants our student-athletes to experience a full season with no interruptions,” Somers girls’ hoops Coach Marc Hattem said. “Athletics have really been such a special thing to have back during the craziness of the past 20 months, and we certainly want to keep that going. With that being said, the district has been very clear about following protocols and guidelines that are in place. We have adapted to those rules along the way, and I am sure that will continue.

“If we get to a point where the safety of our kids, coaches, staff and officials becomes an issue, and a pause or stoppage needs to happen,” he added, “I believe that getting back on the court and/or fields will not be delayed when we are clear to start again because the value and importance of high school athletics will be, and should continue to be, an integral part of the high school experience for all kids in Section 1.”

I get the recent pauses; it’s the holidays and we all needed to gather safely, so better safe than sorry in this particular instance #PostponeOutOfCaution. I did the same thing in the recreation leagues I run in Putnam Valley on account of Grandma and Grandpa. Pausing before the holidays made sense on account of the recent spikes in the Omicron variant throughout the region, but – for the sake of our student-athletes – let’s try to make some sense of this before school administrators cancel the winter sports season on account of some very basic common cold or flu-like symptoms from the latest variant.

“I don’t know how sports resume,” one Section 1 bigwig admitted prior to the holiday break. “Any basketball team that claims to not have exposure (to COVID and its variants) is just lying.”

Lying, bending the rules or blatantly ignoring the mandates have been par for the course, so what did we expect without the imaginary “COVID police” enforcing the “optional” rules we put in place across Section 1?

“It’s going to be a challenge for sure, very messy,” Panas boys’ hoops Coach Mike Auerbach admitted. “It’s a shame we’re still dealing with this and letting it disrupt the learning and playing experience for kids.”

Like many local programs, COVID has wrought havoc on Auerbach’s Panthers since their last game on Dec. 15. The Panthers had been unable to practice or play games since Dec. 20 until they gathered with six eligible players last Thursday (Dec. 30).

“It was our first practice since Dec. 20,” the coach said. “We have a few more players who can filter back in over the weekend, but I’m not sure how this goes with two league games and then White Plains the week back from break.”

I’ve been to a handful of varsity basketball games this winter season and well over 30 outdoor varsity games during the course of the fall. It’s almost impossible to comfortably compete at this level with a mask on. The mask mandate has been a running joke; not that I’m calling for stricter enforcement because I see very little actual proof that face coverings work when dudes are face to face, knockin’ snot in competition. Yet I wonder why we impose these mask mandates but don’t authorize actual enforcement after the school’s closing bell.

If there are 10 kids on the basketball court at one time, I’d wager two of them are properly masked up while the other eight are wearing useless chin straps. Y’all know I’m spitting facts. But I’m not sure we can take that approach right now based on the decision-making process. Administrators and school boards are beholden to things many of us don’t quite understand, like big-picture safety, political persuasion and answering to the masses, including the teacher’s union.

“The return-to-play process isn’t easy either,” Auerbach said. “Doctors’ appointments and notes are needed. Try getting into a doctor’s office or urgent care on short notice right now.”

Been there, done that! But the protocols, which need to be explicit and enforced, are vital if we’re to get to a sectional tournament format this winter with some semblance of normalcy. However, normalcy seems light years away when you hear this: “I wish that I knew the answers,” Putnam Valley School Superintendent Jeremy Luft said. “We are struggling just to get the kids back in school. There were 1,200 positive cases in Putnam County just yesterday (Dec. 29).”

Many of which were asymptomatic or minimal in complications, especially among teenagers, so it seems like a situation we can navigate, though there will be many issues for coaches to contend with, including a lineup that comprises 12th player as a pivotal part of the equation at times.

“I doubt Section 1 or the state athletic association (NYSPHSAA) is going to make any decisions, so I suspect teams will play and just limp through the season with positive cases and quarantine orders,” Luft added. “All of that is contingent on schools being able to reopen next week. Hopefully, the fuel burns out and this variant will fade away.”

It’s better to have limped, than not walk at all. In the meantime, coaches will be put to the test. Some will be hit hard by the surge in COVID-related cases, some will be spared the myriad complications. Players will be rusty. Sets will seem out of sorts at times and coaches will fume and burn timeouts in an effort to find proper synchrony.

“I think we’ll get the season in, but there has to be some uniformity across the section on what the expectation is,” Auerbach said. “Very few teams will be fortunate to be at full strength from now until March. If you can field six or seven players, play the game. We’ve all coached plenty of offseason games shorthanded, and you lose some games to teams you shouldn’t lose to because you’re forced to play with kids who don’t normally play as much. I think if we keep trying to postpone and reschedule games, we’re just going to lose games completely in the long run.”

And if you don’t think politics aren’t a part of this, I can’t help you. A portion of this pandemic is political, and we all know it. Let’s put politics aside for the good of the children, which, in New York State, we hadn’t done until nearly a year into the pandemic.

We better put our best foot forward if we’re going to combat this pandemic; lest we find ourselves back in the same boat we were in 2020 when high school sports were canceled altogether and kids were stuck at home.

Let’s get out in front of this now and continue to #AdvocateForOurYouth! Happy New Year, y’all!