If high school athletics resume as scheduled late next month amid the growing coronavirus pandemic, each will face new restrictions and methods of operation unique to each sport.
Football will see the most safety-related scrutiny because it is the biggest revenue-producer for most high school sports programs, and has the highest level of close, physical contact. But, other fall sports have had and will continue to face their own specific challenges.
Volleyball lost one of its biggest offseason staples when much of the travel club season — which normally runs from February through June — was halted. From mid-March until late June, there was no club play. High school coaches are now seeking creative ways to train players and refine their game skills to fill that void.
Although the Ohio High School Athletic Association modified its normal summer regulations to allow schools more time for practice, the required sanitizing and social distancing directives have not enabled volleyball teams to form their typical on-court chemistry through competitive six-on-six scrimmages or games.
This void will almost certainly become evident in quality of play when the season begins Aug. 21, but all schools were basically impacted equally by the shutdown and subsequent restrictions.
Teams will get a chance for more intense game-like action when preseason practice starts Aug. 1 and scrimmages versus other teams are permitted.
Here are some thoughts from area coaches on three aspects of pandemic factor.
What were the major differences in offseason volleyball after the spring shutdown?
■ “In normal years, most players and coaches are coming off a travel club season,” said Clay coach Carrie Wagoner. “This has been a benefit for a lot of high school teams. Players are usually already conditioned and have been competing in tournaments at a higher level of competition. There is really no down time between club volleyball and high school seasons.
“Since travel season was cut short, if players haven’t been doing things on their own to prepare for the upcoming high school season, then they and we are way behind.”
■ “The main restriction that we have found is just not being able to all be in the gym together,” St. Ursula coach Sydney Yaggi said. “We really enjoy training as a program in the summer. Even with some restrictions being lifted we continue to take precautions in our gym and keep our numbers low.”
■ “I think we’re all behind since club and spring practices and tournaments were cancelled, but we are all on a level playing field,” Lake coach Amy Vorst said. “We all have a lot of work to do to make up for lost time.”
■ “In the past, Ohio coaches have been given 10 coaching days throughout the summer to work with the athletes,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Pitzen said. “Typically I spent those days with my team at tournaments. I find it most beneficial to have the girls play the game against tough opponents.
“This year we lost all those tournaments, either due to shutdown, guidelines, the increase in cases in other counties, or venues not wanting to deal with the restrictions. We’re taking advantage of the skill training that the state is allowing us to do, but you can’t replace the actual feeling of a game.”
■ “Obviously you can't scrimmage but it made the instruction we give to the players the same,” Anthony Wayne coach Norm McGhee said. “Smaller numbers created more time to instruct directly. In a normal year it would have been Open gyms, where the seniors run the practice.”
How might the lost offseason opportunities impact the quality of play this fall?
■ “The fact that we were able to start with the foundation in June instead of August, I believe gives us a great advantage going into season,” Perrysburg coach Laura Davidson said. “We moved slowly through positional training, and moved on to intra-squad scrimmaging and drills through a two month period.
“These are things that we can keep building upon once August hits, and we are ahead of the game.”
■ “The talent is still there, but you can see the frustration,” Cardinal Stritch coach Megan Peer said. “Volleyball is all about muscle memory, so even our most athletic kids are going back to basics right now. We need to just go back to feeling comfortable and confident.
“Also, with not having the natural camaraderie and competition between our players for so long, they need to learn to trust and communicate with each other effectively again. This will be the biggest hurdle of moving ahead.”
■ “Truthfully, this summer has given our coaching staff the opportunity to interact with our athletes in a more personal way,” Springfield coach McKenna Reitz said, “giving us the ability to get to better know our incoming athletes and work more one on one.
“As the [reopening] phases transitioned and more athletes were allowed in the gym you could see a difference in our team unity. We are further along in our training by not being limited to a number of coaching days. Stronger relationships have been formed between both the coaches and athletes, and between teammates.”
■ “Most of the high school programs will now be on the same playing field,” Wagoner said. “No one got to play a full club season. Playing all year round benefits a lot of the varsity programs, like my own at Clay.
“Getting back into the rhythm of volleyball, and the intense schedule it has, will be a challenge. But, for the most part, all my girls seem to be more motivated to get back in the gym and play volleyball.”
■ “I think it’s going to take us a little while for our girls to get back into the swing of things, but the girls are working hard and making progress every day,” Vorst said.
How confident are you that there will be a fall volleyball season?
■ “My gut feeling is [Ohio governor Mike] DeWine is going to pull the plug if this gets worse,” AW’s McGhee said. “However, I feel that we'll take a page from the Big Ten and just play league games. My ideal solution would be to combine the NLL and the TRAC, and play each other once. That would be a good season.”
■ “We are fully prepared for the season to happen as intended,” Northview coach Chad Rutkowski said, “although it may look different in terms of spectators, the number of spectators permitted in person, and other personnel.
“It is our hope that we will have a season, although it may be very different than what we are accustomed to. Whatever decision is made, we will push forward and provide our athletes with an experience and memories that will last a lifetime.”
■ “Since volleyball has been declared a non-contact sport, I am hopeful that our season will start on time and be able to play the full schedule,” Swanton coach Kyle Borer said. “It’s tough to be confident in that, but I think it seems likely that we are progressing toward that possibility as long as precautions and changes are put in place.”
■ “I believe we are going to play our full season,” Southview coach Mike Sebring said. “I do think teams that travel out of state to play may have trouble playing those. But we do not do that.
“A big concern is going to be what if a team has a player test positive? That's probably going to be a 14-day quarantine for the rest of the team and coaches. You could easily have five or six matches in that time. Are those forfeits, cancelled or postponed? If they are league matches you almost have to reschedule, but rescheduling during a packed volleyball season is very difficult. Like so many things right now, there are unfortunately more questions than answers.”
■ “Now that volleyball is classified as a non-contact sport I think we’ll have a season,” Pitzen said. “It may not look like a normal season though.
“Any number of things could happen. Just conference play, no travel out of state, no travel to counties that have higher cases. What I do know is that my girls will be prepared whatever decision comes our way.”
■ “We plan on taking needed precautions and having a season,” Davidson said. “I believe there will be bumps in the road, like some districts having to tell certain kids or athletes to quarantine due to COVID19 case tracing.
“That could stop some matches from happening, but we will do what we have to do to have a safe and successful volleyball season.”
■ “I consider myself a pretty positive person in general, but with all the necessary precautions we are taking in our gym I am very optimistic there will be a fall season,” Yaggi said. “We stress to our entire program how important it is to follow all of the guidelines we can, both in and out of the gym, so we can ensure that we have a season.”
First Published July 19, 2020, 4:00 p.m.
