The return of sports in SC: Behind the scenes of first events since virus shutdown

NASCAR put South Carolina in the national spotlight with three races in May at Darlington Raceway. The PGA Tour will do the same next week when the RBC Heritage is played in Hilton Head.

But at a more local level, sports activities really started up again this week across the Midlands and South Carolina. There were practices, events and recruiting showcases happening for the first time since the coronavirus shut down sports in March.

We captured some of those moments here.

Football teams take big step to having a season

The outdoor soundtrack for the Gray Collegiate Academy football team Monday included the morning cascade of birds tweeting, the backyard barking of a neighboring dog and spirited instruction from defensive coordinator Howie Bayer.

“None of it’s really about football right now,” Gray head coach Adam Holmes said. “Right now these first two weeks is just about getting these kids back in shape, running and conditioning and getting their lungs back open a little bit.”

Schools around South Carolina are allowed to hold on-campus workouts for the first time since the cornavirus shut down sports in March. There are protocols: daily temperature checks, social distancing, face mask guidelines and guidance that athletes only work out in small groups.

At Gray in West Columbia, all the added safety measures — especially rotating through in smaller groups — mean a normally two-hour workout takes the school five hours.

“We’ve got to do it,” Holmes said. “If this is what it takes to try to have fall sports back in the fall, that’s what we have to do.”

In-state colleges, including South Carolina and Clemson, began on-campus workouts Monday with the same mindset as high schools: Stay safe now in order to have a season in the fall.

The state’s private schools were able to restart workouts as early as June 1. Public high school teams in Lexington 1 and Kershaw County can start this coming Monday. Other local districts will get going later in the month, or even in July.

“We’ve got to work on social distancing and being disciplined,” said Chris Rhone, a Gray senior at safety and receiver. “It’s been a long time but we’ve got to get ready to work now.”

— Dwayne McLemore

Recruiting showcase gets baseball players back in the game

After having his high school season cut short because of the coronavirus, Lexington’s Landon McMahan was ready for moments like the ones that came Wednesday.

The rising senior was back on the baseball field at Columbia International University for the annual Diamond Prospects summer showcase. About 160 players from across the state attended the two-day event.

“It is great. Diamond Prospects does a great job putting on events and I got to see a bunch of different kids from different schools,” McMahan said. “I have been doing nothing but trying to get back to it. When you are playing baseball, everyone is out here having fun and you forget about the virus.”

The event was originally scheduled to be held at Lexington High School, but that couldn’t happen since those facilities weren’t open. About 20 Division II and Junior College coaches attended Wednesday’s first day. Division I coaches, which are usually there, were unable to attend because of an NCAA recruiting dead period.

“It isn’t going to look like what you might usually see,” Diamond Prospects’ Austin Alexander said in his podcast leading up to the event. “We have had to be creative. … It is important we give them the stage to show who they are whether at our open events or invite events.”

For the first time in the history of the event, players had to sign waivers specifically for COVID-19 in order to participate. Diamond Prospects staff said that if a player had signed up to participate in the event but didn’t feel comfortable because of virus concerns, they would credit the entry fee for a future event. No player withdrew.

Masks weren’t required for players, parents and coaches in attendance, and no one had them on Wednesday in the near 90-degree temperatures.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster gave the go-ahead for youth sports like baseball to return June 1. Some local leagues — Pineview and Midlands Dixie Youth — opted to cancel their seasons and resume in the fall.

But travel ball teams around the state are in full swing with tournaments coming up in South Carolina and outside the state. The American Legion Baseball season was canceled, but many of those teams will be playing in the start-up SC AL American Summer League, which is scheduled to begin in late June.

The league will have a 12-game regular season with three divisions of seven teams. Postseason plans haven’t been finalized. Local teams in the league are Chapin-Newberry, West Columbia, Richland County, Lexington Post 7 and Camden.

The Lexington County Blowfish, which is made up of college players, will begin their Coastal Plain League season July 1. The Blowfish will only play the Macon and Savannah teams as well as other exhibition games in the 43-game season. Fans are expected to be allowed to attend.

The Columbia Fireflies, the Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, has its season in jeopardy with Major League Baseball yet to reach any agreement about playing games.

— Lou Bezjak

High-level amateur golf competition returns

Elbow bumps replaced handshakes, bunkers did not get raked, the pin became a thou-shall-not-touch part of the game and balls did not drop to the bottom of the cup. Golf ... in the coronavirus era.

At least people could play the game socially the last three months, albeit with some significant differences during the state-of-emergency mandates that restricted movements and business operations.

Meanwhile, high-level tournament golf vanished. Suspended events became canceled events. Officials struggled to find ways to salvage schedules. Players thirsted to compete.

Happily, the amateur game “re-started” over the past few days with the S.C. Women’s Amateur Championship at Columbia Country Club and the S.C. Golf Association’s Junior Championship at the Tradition Club on Pawleys Island the first “majors” on revised schedules.

“Being back is fun,” Gracyn Burgess, the former Lexington High star who plays on Clemson’s women’s team, said at the Women’s Amateur. “But the preparation is hard.

“Trying to get ready to play without knowing when you will have a tournament is difficult, and it’s really hard to re-create the pressure of tournament golf without playing tournament golf.”

The rust showed in Burgess’ game. After a strong start in the Women’s Amateur at Columbia Country Club, she finished with a pair of 6-over 78s and tied for 18th.

“I didn’t have any great expectations coming in, but I had a good time,” she said. “I know I found out what I have to work on in practice.”

The future, officials say, remains a moving target. The Women’s South Carolina Golf Association had to switch sites for its Junior Girls’ tournament, and the SCGA juggled its Father-Son event. The United States Golf Association canceled most of its national tournaments and all the qualifiers, leaving huge holes in schedules.

SCGA and WSCGA tournaments will be conducted under guidelines designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus, and the players at the Women’s Amateur “adapted well,” said Clarissa Childs, executive director of the women’s association.

“Everything is so different,” Burgess said, “but it’s fun to be back.”

One thing not different? “We had weather delays at almost every tournament last year and we had them again (at the State Juniors),” said Biff Lathrop, the SCGA’s executive director. “But it’s great to be back playing again.”

— Bob Spear

Basketball prospects get chance to show skills

Some of the state’s top high school basketball players descended on the Upward Stars Center in Spartanburg the past two weekends.

Upward Stars, the state’s top AAU program, hosted two straight weeks of NBA-style combine workouts for more than 40 players in its organization. Upward Stars Southeast co-director and 17-and-under coach Curt Wheeler had the workout streamed online so college coaches could watch.

“We wanted to offer our kids an opportunity to be seen by college coaches. Since the kids couldn’t travel to play in front of coaches, our coaches had to think of ways to promote the kids to colleges,” Wheeler said. “We’ve been emailing and texting game footage from high school. Social media blasts have been helpful as well, but our staff’s network is unbelievable when it comes to colleges. We also have a great relationship with our high school coaches who have been sending out information to schools and equipping us with whatever we need in promoting the kids.”

Safety protocols were followed during the workout, which included hand sanitizer and only playing 3-on-3 with one coach per group.

“Being back on the court with my friends was a feeling that made you smile because these aren’t guys you can see every day because not everyone lives in Columbia. It was so much fun playing with them again,” said Cardinal Newman’s Joshua Beadle, who is ranked in the top 150 in the latest Rivals basketball rankings.

Beadle said he’s been doing his best to try and stay in shape and has been playing a lot of pickup basketball recently with restrictions being lifted. Sonny’s Sportsplex has been a popular place for high school and college kids in Columbia to play over the last few weeks.

In a normal year, there would be AAU events throughout the spring and summer with college coaches sitting courtside evaluating talent. But the NCAA has shut down recruiting through the end of July because of the coronavirus. A proposal will be voted next week by the National Association of Basketball Coaches on holding evaluation periods in August, September and October.

— Lou Bezjak

Coming soon: soccer’s return

While fall high school sports have begun summer workouts, it still will be a few more weeks for spring sports such as soccer to get the go-ahead for practice.

But two of the top soccer programs in the state, Congaree Rapid FC and SC United, will be holding their summer evaluations for their teams this weekend.

Both organizations are requiring players to sign COVID-19 waivers in order to participate and distributed strict guidelines to the workout, which includes wearing masks before and after evaluations, bringing their own soccer ball and water bottles, sanitizing hands before and after training and social distancing when not in play.

“Our staff spent half of yesterday getting the West Columbia Soccer Complex prepared with social distancing areas, traffic flow and drop-off areas, entrances, exits,” Congaree Rapid’s Kyle Heise said. “It definitely requires attention to detail. But, if that is what we have to do to return to play then we will follow those guidelines.”

— Lou Bezjak

This story was originally published June 13, 2020 at 8:33 AM.