As a girl growing up on the south side of Chicago, Dee-Dee Wheeler would play basketball outside during the winter until her hands froze.
So, yes, Wheeler — Tucson Unified School District’s new Director of Interscholastics — understands how important sports are for kids. Passion and understanding motivate Wheeler to ensure students have access to sports safely, even during a pandemic.
“Athletics ultimately helped me,” she said. “I am a young kid from not the best area of the city of Chicago and without athletics, I don’t know what my path would have been. One thing that athletics does is that it eliminates barriers and borders. …. I want to ensure that I am advocating and ensuring that every athlete has access.”
Since taking over in June, Wheeler — a former Arizona Wildcats point guard who had been serving as the District-Wide Director of Elementary Athletics for Chicago — has been focused on stability. TUSD is trying to play a winter sports season; to do so successfully, coaches and players must follow strict rules designed to them safe.
Wheeler instituted a policy requiring TUSD’s student-athletes to wear masks during practices. The policy gets players used to the feeling of wearing a mask while competing and developing lung capacity. Masks, sanitizing, and social distancing at games and at home are key in keeping sports on track. TUSD students are have been learning remotely since the pandemic hit last spring.
Players’ families and friends are not allowed to attend TUSD sporting events; instead, thanks to a partnership established by Wheeler with NFHS Network, games will be live-streamed from all TUSD gymnasiums. Steve Botkin, the athletic director and girls basketball coach at Sahuaro High School, said cameras have been installed at his home court to allow fans to watch remotely.
Botkin says Wheeler “has been a great advocate getting the students back into athletics.” And he’s grateful that Wheeler persevered and is allowing TUSD winter sports to go ahead.
“For me specifically, with a coach hat on, it is the most normal I have felt in a year,” he said.
Wheeler believes that sports are a safe haven for student-athletes, and a place where life skills are developed. Access to and participation in sports provides community during a time when many are separated from their friends and teammates.
Wheeler recently dropped in on a basketball practice at Sahuaro. She liked what she saw in terms of mask-wearing and social distancing.
“They didn’t put on a show for me just because I showed up,” she said. “They have been practicing the mitigation efforts and it shows because we aren’t seeing cases. I’m not getting calls every day.”
