Editor’s note: As part of a 10-day project, the Star is looking back at the 2019 season and asking five big questions about the fall. Today’s question: What impact will the coronavirus pandemic have on high school football this fall?
Many Southern Arizona athletic directors held a Zoom call at the beginning of the week. Among the topics discussed: What will happen to high school football in the fall?
There’s no bigger issue facing athletic departments throughout the state, given the wide-reaching effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The other questions the Star has discussed during its ongoing project — How good will Salpointe Catholic be? Who will step up as the region’s premier player? — will be rendered moot if the upcoming season is canceled.
Amphitheater School District athletic director Armando Soto and Salpointe Catholic athletic director Phil Gruensfelder said their schools — and others in Tucson — are preparing as if the football season will proceed as planned. It’s the state’s “Plan A,” said Arizona Interscholastic Association director David Hines.
But plenty has to happen over the coming months for football to return, starting with Arizona reopening for business. Gov. Doug Ducey’s policies will dictate what the “new normal” is, Hines said.
The AIA will consider the following questions:
- Can athletic activities resume to normal if school is in session?
- Can athletic activities resume if school is held online for a period of time?
- Will there be a need to push back the sports calendar — or cancel the season altogether?
- How much prep time do teams need to get ready for the season?
- Will large gatherings be permitted?
“We are going to ask all those questions,” Hines said. “There’s a lot of unknowns right now, and that’s what we are trying to find out.”
Projecting what life will look like in July and beyond is a precarious task. But if schools reopen sometime this summer, it will mark a step in the right direction.
Some local administrators believe it’ll happen in late July or early August.
“If we can go back to school and practice, then I would say that means we should be able to compete,” Hines said. “But again, we don’t know right now.”
Gruensfelder said the Lancers “have hope” that there will be fall sports.
“That word ‘hope’ keeps coming up over and over again, not just athletically but academically as well,” he said. “We are progressing like school will be open in the fall.”
Even if the football season proceeds as planned, the AIA must set up contingency plans to avoid a potential “second wave” of COVID-19. The AIA is expected to implement new rules for locker room sanitation while addressing how social distancing applies to a sport — football — where human contact is inevitable.
“Crowds, locker rooms, player contact, that’s all something we have to look at maybe regulating,” Gruensfelder said.
Another aspect is travel — more specifically, interstate travel. Ironwood Ridge canceled a road game in California because of the coronavirus concerns in both states.
“It’s a big topic that we are dealing with, and we aren’t the only state that’ll have to deal with it,” Soto said.
Then there’s the larger question: What if schools simply pass on sports altogether? Hines said each school district will decide whether its teams will take part in sports this fall. It’s possible, Hines said, that the AIA could decide to resume play only to find that some districts are holding out.
Soto, the Amphi district’s AD, said it likely won’t come to that.
“We are going to do everything together,” Soto said of the plans of the Arizona ADs. “We are preparing to do everything next fall as planned and the measures will be done statewide.”
In the meantime, football teams across Tucson — including Salpointe Catholic, Sahuaro and Sabino — are holding online meetings and sending players at-home workouts in lieu of spring football.
“We have meetings each day and are able to talk to players face-to-face through either Zoom or Google Hangouts,” Salpointe coach Eric Rogers said.
Lancers quarterback Treyson Bourguet said the meetings have been going “really good so far,” and that he’s been able to complete the at-home workouts. Bourguet also works out at home with his brother Trenton, who is a backup quarterback at ASU.
Players aren’t the only ones learning. Walden Grove coach Corey Noble watches a few online coaching seminars a week, some of which are hosted by national programs.
While football is in limbo, Tucson teams are trying to do their part to stay geared up.
“If we start on time, Aug. 21, with our first game, great,” Rogers said. “If we have to delay it, we’ll be ready when that time comes, too.”
