The State College Area School Board is set to vote Wednesday night on an interim athletics plan as it continues to iron out various issues surrounding competition and practice heading into its fall sports season.
The board is scheduled to reconvene later in September to finalize a decision regarding competition. The interim plan is effectively an extension and expansion of the previously approved voluntary summer workout program.
“Athletics can work in unison with the safety of our community at large,” SCASD Athletic Director Chris Weakland told board members during a Monday night work session. “It is not either/or.”
Wednesday’s vote would give teams the go-ahead to begin official practices with the aforementioned decision on competition to come later in the month. The catch: while SCASD has yet to revert to remote, the potential for that move looms large amid localized spikes in COVID-19 cases. A decision to do so would in turn would ultimately signal the suspension of fall competition with the hopes of playing in the spring.
“If we move to remote learning and we’re not safe enough to be in buildings or transporting all of our students to and from home we’re proposing we place a hold on scheduled competition,” District Superintendent Bob O’Donnell said in opening remarks.
“If we’re remote that means there’s a higher presence of the virus in our community. By participating in competitions with the person to person contact involved we would be lowering the bar set by our health and safety plan’s parameters. Thus we would not be holding competitions this fall and would request to postpone them until the spring.”
A small silver-lining, according to O’Donnell, is that SCASD athletic programs would still be permitted to take part in various aspects of the interim plan — effectively still practicing — despite any fall competition cancelations.
“My belief about the value of athletics goes far beyond just the value of competition. The camaraderie, the work ethic learned, and for me, the mentoring of young people is just so crucial to the development of our student-athletes and this absolutely applies to all of our extracurricular activities,” O’Donell said. “These are some of the reasons why I support continuing athletics in some fashion as best we can, even if we can’t have competitions right now. I also understand the safety of our students, employees and larger community has to be our number one priority. Athletics, although very valuable, can’t be at the expense of that safety. If we’re closed, our team’s recommendation is to consider executing the interim proposal with minor modifications.”
Currently, Little Lion athletic programs continue to wait for the official green light to begin practicing following an announcement earlier in August that the Mid Penn League would delay the start of its fall sports season. The decision dictates that practices cannot begin earlier than Sept. 4, in turn a delayed start to effectively every fall competition season within the league. Under the current schedule, the Little Lion football team, would not take the newly renovated Memorial Field until Sept. 25, nearly a full month following its previously scheduled season opener.
The PIAA voted just over a week ago to move forward with fall sports across the state, although the governing body did not mandate participation by all districts, nor uniform start times for various leagues, citing the need to organize championship seasons as a problem for down the road.
So far within the Mid Penn Conference only Harrisburg and Milton Hershey have suspended their fall athletic seasons. All other 34 Mid Penn schools are continuing with fall athletics. In addition, none of the 52 District 6 schools have suspended fall athletics.
If State College does move ahead with competitions later in September, it could include modifying Mid Penn schedules or ‘or pursuing competing against more regional schools with similar or less COVID-19 levels,’ according to a memo from administrators to the board.
For now, the district’s proposed interim plan largely focuses on a combination of risk-mitigating factors surrounding various sports and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Athletes and coaches would be subject to self-screening for symptoms and temperature checks prior to any workouts and protocols are in place for disinfecting of equipment and locker rooms. Student-athletes and parents/guardians are required to sign a form acknowledging and agreeing to all requirements. Coaches and staff are required to complete “Covid-19 for Coaches and Administrators” certification from the National Federation of High School Administrators.
Face coverings are required for indoor training at all times and outdoors while idle or when 6 feet of distancing cannot be maintained. The plan also has rules for distancing whenever possible and prohibiting the sharing of items such as equipment, water bottles and towels.
Additionally under the plan, various sports would have modified practice procedures such as football, which would not be permitted to take part in person-to-person blocking or tackling. Other sports would see similar measures in order to limit personal contact between participants.
The interim plan also updates the summer plan to add middle school participation, move volleyball indoors, allow use of the fitness center and athletic training room and increase equipment use.
During Monday night’s work session, the board talked for nearly two hours hearing from Penn State’s Director of Athletic Medicine Wayne Sebastianelli and various State College athletes about both health factors and an ongoing support for measures currently in place.
Sebastianelli, who oversaw much of Penn State’s own COVID-19 related procedures, supported the need for mass screening while noting the many unknowns about the future health of people who have contracted COVID-19. The Big Ten recently cited a potential heart condition issues as one of the reasons it opted to cancel its own fall sports season.
Following his remarks and a lengthy question-and-answer period with board members, various athletes across the department emphasized the importance of sport in their lives in ways that extend beyond the game itself, as well as their confidence that coaches and administrators will have measures in place to play safely.
“Not having the season goes deeper than just not playing,” Little Lion running back Dresyn Green said. “It also ruins the family-like brotherhood it creates us as athletes. Not having the season also impacts players mental health and behaviors. Football serves as an outlet for a lot of athletes. Football helps my teammates and I grow, develop and be challenged, psychically, socially and emotionally. These unique experiences have shaped me into the man I am today and the man I hope to be in the near future.”
Ultimately the potential decision by the district to revert back to remote learning will be a more influential factor in regards to the future of fall sports in State College, but a vote on Wednesday in favor of moving ahead with the interim athletics plan would give athletes, fans and coaches a bit more hope for sports in 2020, even if that future would remain uncertain.
The State College Area School Board will meet virtually at 7 p.m. on Wednesday
