High School basketball and cheerleading teams are coping with coronavirus precautions this week, and next week other winter sports will begin practice. Wrestling, swimming and indoor track teams are scheduled to begin Monday, December 14.
Rules dictating practice are currently under Phase 2 guidelines. Wrestling is one of the toughest sports to steer clear of the virus with constant contact in an indoor environment.
“Masks on, 10 feet apart, no touching and no sharing anything,” said LB wrestling coach Chuck Burton. “We are in that as long as we are in the ‘Red-Orange’ area. We have to get into the ‘Yellow’ to clear us to go to Phase 3 guidelines from the VHSL for in-season sports which means, basically, until we get to Yellow all we can do is individual workouts and cardio-weight training stuff.”
The Cavaliers still plan to hit the mats on Monday.
“We are going to start on the 14th, but in a modified way of only having half the team come in on Monday and Thursday and the other half on Tuesday and Friday,” said Burton. “We’ll conduct individual workouts that way without wrestling until we get into Orange. Once we get into Orange, we’ll ramp up to four days a week for all kids. If we get to Yellow, we will fire it up at that point.”
Coach Bobby Stewart is trying to deal with the same guidelines at James River.
“We will stay in Phase 2 until the case rate drops and places us in the Yellow or Green risk category,” he said. “This will be checked every 14 days since we are on the 14 day matrix. So, it is looking grim at the current moment but we will prepare the best we can. We need at least one regular season match to make scratch weight. We then need to have a region tournament and a state tournament. That is what I have my hopes set on, that we can at least get those three in. We have a strong team and this was our year to really compete for a team state title.”
Athletic directors Chuck Pound of LB and Vincent Wyatt of James River have been trying to put schedules together in trying circumstances.
“The schedule actually was the easy part in terms of matches,” said Burton. “The Blue Ridge District athletic directors put together a match schedule for all of us that gives us five of the allowed eight matches. Everyone is chomping at the bit to get going, so my contacts reached out to me or I reached out to them and I was able to fill the remaining three dates pretty easily.”
It was a little tougher at River.
“Putting a schedule together has been very difficult,” said Stewart. “Uncertainty everywhere makes it difficult to get commitments. We are only allowed eight events in the preseason. We can have no more than a four team quad and that requires VHSL approval. Most teams are sticking to three team tri-meets or just plain duals to keep simplicity a focus. We used to have 30 team tournaments that are all now trying to schedule eight events with no more than three or four teams. It does make it tough trying to make a good competitive schedule.”
Bobby has found that the pandemic makes the coaching part the easiest.
“The major challenges are social distancing, keeping infection to a minimum, monitoring and documenting daily,” he said. “This is an added responsibility to coaching and will consume a massive amount of time. Other challenging items will be match day preparation with disinfection and social distancing protocols that will be imperative to adhere to. Makes us spend more time concentrating on policing than competing but is a necessary action.”
Ironically, many of the high school wrestlers have been able to compete during the off-season.
“Fortunately most of our team members are members of non-school related travel wrestling clubs,” said Stewart. “The private non-school related clubs have operated and competed in out of state tournaments so the guys who were involved there have seen competition and honed their skills. They have put time in their weight training as well and I have seen muscle gain in several of the guys. We’re making the best we can with a tough situation we are in with the virus and restrictions.”
Botetourt also expects to have a good team this season if they can get on the mats.
“I’m as ready as anyone for us to get out of this pandemic so we can resume normal activities,” said Burton. “I feel for my seniors having to go through this as this was a year we had earmarked for a while. This will be my biggest senior group in four years and we are looking forward to getting a chance to compete. Hopefully, things will clear up soon enough to allow us the opportunity to compete.”
Swimming is a little easier to retain social distancing as each competitor is in a lane. Still, there are challenges.
“The challenges that we face this year are limiting numbers,” said LB coach Ashley Safrit. “We are only able to have a certain number of swimmers per lane at practice, which cuts down on the number of swimmers we are able to hold on the roster. We are also limited to the number of athletes that can ride on the bus with us to away meets. For swim meets, we are limited to dual meets, and can have no more than 100 people on the deck (coaches, swimmers, workers). There are no spectators allowed this season, which I feel will hinder the atmosphere on the pool deck. Swimming is a sport that really thrives on the roar of the crowd. We will be creative with our practices and swim meets in order to accommodate as many swimmers on the team as possible. We as a coaching staff are going to work hard to avoid having to make cuts, if at all possible.”
River coach Kevin Franceschini is also dealing with daily restrictions.
“Covid-19 as created many new challenges to conduct practices as well as holding swim meets,” he said. “All swimmers must wear PPE’s and social distance when entering the facility we use. Every student athlete has a temperature check when entering the facility.”
Both coaches are hoping to be able to have post-season competition.
“At this time, I have five meets scheduled during the regular season,” said Franceschini. “Under VHSL rules this year, we are allowed to have a total of six regular season meets. A regional and state meet will follow after the regular season meets.
”Our meets will look different this year. Most meets we will host or attend will be dual meets. The home meets that James River hosts will only have enough participants needed to run the meets. Coaches, officials, swimmers and parents’ needed to time will be the only participants allowed at the meet.
“There are many variables that can have an effect on our season. Possible Covid-19 cases that may affect visiting teams as well as hosting teams could delay or cancel meets. I think our best outcome for the season would be the ability to get thru the season while keeping student athletes as safe as possible.”
Safrit is hoping for the best at LB.
“We are looking forward to another season with these hard working athletes,” she said. “We have a large number of very talented returning swimmers, and the work ethic of this team is tremendous. Our coaching staff is very blessed to work with such outstanding athletes. We also have a large graduating class this year and it would be wonderful if they were able to have their final season. I truly hope that this season continues to move forward as planned, we all need this bit of ‘normal’ back in our lives, as different as it may be.”
Many of the indoor track meets this season could be run with sweatshirts, since they won’t be “indoors.”
“It looks like most of our meets this year will be ‘Polar Bear Meets,’ or outdoor meets,” said LB coach Christopher Caldwell. “Social distancing guidelines are difficult to meet in an Indoor Track setting due to the size of the facility and number of athletes. Moving outdoors is the best option. We will have to monitor temperatures and make sure that our athletes are spending the time needed to properly warm-up during the colder temperatures to prevent injury.”
Caldwell has been struggling to put a schedule together under the circumstances.
“Our Indoor Schedule is very ‘up in the air’ right now,” he said. “Our normal invitational events are not happening due to the pandemic. There will be several opportunities to schedule a polar bear meet. With those, the host school will normally pick a date, advertise it, and monitor the forecast. If the weather looks poor for that date they will move the date or sometimes exclude a few events.
“Regardless of what the season holds competition wise, I feel fortunate that we are able to train our student athletes and band members in Botetourt County.”
