Fall sports seasons in doubt with COVID-19 trends, SC High School League leader says
South Carolina High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton isn’t optimistic about playing sports in the fall unless things change with the trajectory of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Singleton expressed his outlook for a fall sports season during Thursday’s meeting with the SCHSL executive committee and later in a press conference with reporters.
“I’m very concerned,” Singleton said. “The numbers indicate that there is constantly a growing number of positive cases. We thought those originally were affecting those 60 years or older. Now, the indication, the people that are most affected are ages 15 to 25, and those are our students. … If changes don’t come into place, it will be very hard to put any of our fall sports seasons together.”
On Thursday, there were 1,106 new positive cases in the state, a day after a record 1,291 new cases were announced by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. South Carolina’s daily coronavirus case counts have been near or above record levels for the last nearly three weeks, an indicator that the virus’ activity is increasing.
According to DHEC, 11% of cases in the state are made up of ages 11-20, with 20% ages 21-30.
Singleton said he’s been made aware of high school athletes testing positive throughout the state, but the coronavirus contraction is not necessarily happening while on school grounds. He referenced a trip to Myrtle Beach involving athletes from three unnamed high schools where more than 20 came back positive with COVID-19, according to Singleton.
Singleton emphasized numerous times Thursday that it’s more important what students are doing after they leave school and following their workouts.
Dutch Fork football coach Tom Knotts and coaches from around the state also have expressed that to their teams.
“They got to assume social responsibility. They can’t go out and get sick. They got to limit what they do,” Knotts said Monday. “If they are going to malls and places where there are lots of people and they get sick, we are going to throw a season away. They got to do everything in their power to stay healthy and do the right things to play in December.”
Newberry County schools — including Newberry, Mid-Carolina and Whitmire high schools — announced Sunday that summer workouts wouldn’t start Monday as planned because of the statewide spike in coronavirus cases.
Fort Mill High School canceled its practices this week after a player tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Rock Hill Herald. Fairfield Central announced Wednesday that it will shut down summer workouts until July 6 because of the rise in cases around the state.
Beaufort County schools announced Thursday it will push back workouts from July 6 to July 20. Greenville County Schools announced it is suspended its summer workouts until numbers go down. On Thursday evening, Laurens Schools District announced it is shutting down summer workouts until July 20.
The High School League also amended its summer workout protocol “recommendations,” making them “requirements” that come with penalties if schools don’t follow them.
Singleton said he and his staff are exploring various options in the hopes of having sports played in the fall. An unlikely option would be moving fall sports to the spring and putting spring sports such as baseball, soccer and lacrosse in the fall.
Other options including shortening a sport’s regular season and decreasing the amount of teams and rounds in the playoffs, which would allow for the flexibility of starting the season later while still crowning champions.
Singleton didn’t give a specific date on when there would be a ruling, one way or another, on having sports this fall. He plans to send a survey to member schools and gauge their thoughts and opinions on adjusting schedules.
“Everything is a moving target right now,” Singleton said. “Biggest thing is, how much time do we need to safely prepare to play a contest? ... It is a moving target how many games we are willing to sacrifice to still get it in.”
Most S.C. coaches still believe there will be a high school football season this fall, according to an online poll conducted over the last week by The State. Of the almost 60 responses, however, 72% believe the season will start late or be shortened because of the coronavirus. The first games in South Carolina are scheduled for Aug. 20.
Currently, most public schools from around the state are in Phase 1 of summer workouts — which includes conditioning and weightlifting — but some teams won’t start those activities until late July. In this first phase, teams can’t use a ball for the first 10 days, or 14 calendar days. There can be no more than nine athletes and one coach per pod.
Singleton said the league staff is considering a Phase 1.5 that would include players in the same pod of 10 or less sharing equipment (footballs or basketballs, for example) and possibly helmets. He said the decision on future phases would have to go before the SCHSL Return-to-Play Task Force, and then he would run it by DHEC before rolling it out to the schools.
It was voted on Thursday that the SCHSL executive committee doesn’t have to make the final decision on future phase guidelines. The task force can handle those decisions.
Notes
▪ Singleton said no decision has been made yet on appealing Monday’s ruling in the league’s lawsuit with the private/charter schools members. Richland County judge Jocelyn Newman ruled in favor of the private and charter schools in their lawsuit against the SCHSL. Newman granted the charter and private schools an injunction that would push back two amendments passed in March regarding school-to-school transfers and athletic eligibility rules.
▪ The SCHSL executive committee also voted in favor of eliminating a dead week on July 27-30 to allow for workouts to happen then. That was also the same week of the S.C. Coaches Clinic but that has been canceled because of the coronavirus.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 3:11 PM.
