Questions, answers remain for Wilmington-area schools despite new NCHSAA calendar
There was a sense of relief for Laney athletic director Fred Lynch on Wednesday when the N.C. High School Athletic Association announced its new calendar for the upcoming school year.
After months of questions, students, coaches and administrators finally saw a plan in place to play every sport despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But despite that giant step, questions remain.
The immediate reaction toward the NCHSAA’s calendar on social media and among local coaches was positive, but there are concerns about overlapping schedules, particularly between lacrosse and football during a two-week stretch from late February into early March.
Lynch, who sits on the NCHSAA Board of Directors, understands those concerns, but he hopes coaches and players can demonstrate creativity to work through a hopefully one-time problem.
“There’s always been an overlap. Only thing that’s changed is now it will impact different teams at different times of the year,” Lynch said. “I think we all understand, especially for smaller schools, this could be an issue, but we have to keep in mind this is about the kids. If a kid misses one practice to do another sport or wants to play in two sports at the same time, we should all support that.”
West Brunswick football coach Brett Hickman also envisions difficult decisions for the overlapping basketball and football seasons.
Typically, students who play both sports could miss the first couple weeks of basketball season. That will be flipped in 2021, with football season running Feb. 8 - April 9, giving schools more time and the best chance to have fans in the stands to maintain their significant gate revenue from the sport.
Hickman hopes the NCHSAA will change its policy that requires football players to complete eight days of practice before participating in any type of competition. Those eight days include two days in helmets, three days in helmets and shoulder pads, and three days in full pads.
“I think that rule makes complete sense when we’re starting practice in the summer heat,” Hickman said. “But this new season, the heat won’t be there, and we’ll have basketball kids or lacrosse kids who have already been conditioning. I hope we can modify that so kids who reach basketball playoffs will be able to join the football team a little quicker.”
Playoffs are not yet part of the new calendarwere not part of Wednesday’s new calendar, but Commissioner Que Tucker stressed the NCHSAA is committed to providing a postseason for all sports. Those details are still being ironed out.
Most sports will only be allowed to play 14 games, which was a blow for spring coaches who already lost most of just missed out on their 2020 season. Laney baseball coach Eric Brown posted on Twitter that he wished spring athletes could have had a full season in 2021.
null
It is what it is, these are unprecedented times & tough decisions to be made but I really feel for spring sport athletes. They've already lost one season due to COVID. We should have done more to give them a full season in '21. It feels like a loss but it's better than nothing.
Other scheduling details are still a work in progress. Tucker said she hasn’t decided if football season needs to be all conference games. It could be a decision left to each individual league.
Scheduling could be relatively easy for local conferences such as the Mideastern and Coastal 8, who both have eight teams. Football is allowed to have seven regular-season games, which would give the MEC and Coastal 8 the opportunity to have every team face each other once in football and twice in other sports.
“Once the athletic directors get on the same page with that, we can start looking at how we’re going to piece it all together,” Hoggard basketball coach Brett Queen said. “Volleyball and basketball are going to have two weeks where they’re both playing regular season games. Same goes for football, men’s soccer, and lacrosse. It’ll be a challenge, and some sports might need to play on non-traditional nights.”
But Queen, Lynch and Hickman agree the biggest challenge is the state’s overall progression.
Wednesday was a step in the right direction, but it won’t matter if North Carolina can’t get to Phase 3 in its reopening plan or if conditions worsen by the time the calendar turns to November.
“In the back of my mind, I still have this bad feeling that people aren’t going to the right things and all the work we’ve done to put a calendar together won’t matter,” Lynch said. People in the community need to do the right thing and take this time serious by wearing a mask and practicing social-distancing for us to actually play under this new calendar.“Other scheduling details are still a work in progress. Tucker said she hasn’t decided if football season needs to be all conference games, and that decision could be left . It could be a decision left to each individual league.
Scheduling could be relatively easy for local conferences such as the Mideastern and Coastal 8, which both have eight teams. Football is allowed to have seven regular-season games, which would give the MEC and Coastal 8 the opportunity to have every team face each other once in football and twice in other sports.
“Once the athletic directors get on the same page with that, we can start looking at how we’re going to piece it all together,” Hoggard basketball coach Brett Queen said. “Volleyball and basketball are going to have two weeks where they’re both playing regular-season games. Same goes for football, men’s soccer, and lacrosse. It’ll be a challenge, and some sports might need to play on non-traditional nights.”
But Queen, Lynch and Hickman agree the biggest challenge is the state’s overall progression.
Wednesday’s decisions Wednesday was a step in the right direction, but it won’t matter if North Carolina can’t get to Phase 3 in its reopening plan, or if conditions worsen, by the time the calendar turns to November.
“In the back of my mind, I still have this bad feeling that people aren’t going to the right things and all the work we’ve done to put a calendar together won’t matter,” Lynch said. “People in the community need to do the right thing and take this time serious by wearing a mask and practicing social-distancing for us to actually play under this new calendar.“
Back On The Field
A look at the breakdown of new scheduled dates for the NCHSAA athletic calendar for the 2020-21 school year. The start date is the first practice date for each sport.
Volleyball, Cross Country: Nov. 4 - Jan. 8.
Swimming: Nov. 23 - Jan. 30.
Basketball: Dec. 7 - Feb. 19.
Boys Soccer and Lacrosse: Jan. 11 - March 12.
Football: Feb. 8 - April 9.
Golf, Boys Tennis, Girls Soccer, Softball: March 1 - April 30.
Baseball, Girls Tennis, Track and Field, Wrestling: April 12 - June 11.