Fall HS Sports moves to Spring

MSHSL has announced both football and volleyball will be moved to spring sports.
I was really hoping that when Wisconsin put a couple week delay on their football season that MN might do the same (tho I’m really not sure what the 2-3 week delay will accomplish Truthfully)

My son is a senior this year and I’m starting to wonder if he will get any of his sports seasons in this year. He’s at a relatively Small school (Esko) and they count heavily on kids playing multiple sports.
If this does pan out, he will be playing football and running track this spring. I guess at this point I just have to hope he gets a spring sports season at all in either one. Yea, one pretty bummed Dad here

I’d be surprised if any football other than the NFL is played this season. Most college football has already changed their schedules to conference only games, and the PAC 12 players are threatening to boycott. Its a high contact sport and no level other than the NFL has the money, resources, and facilities to pull it off.

Really feel for kids like your son, crappy deal and hope they don’t have to make some tough decisions between sports.

Xplorer we must be close my daughter in law teaches there. My daughter counsels at another nearby school district. My daughter has students calling her almost daily. She says these kids are depressed. Not just sad or melancholy but suffering serious depression. They miss sports, debate team, cheer leading practice, sitting in the cafeteria with their friends for lunch their teachers and yes even learning. This is also causing a great deal of stress within a lot of families.

We will still be seeing fallout from this years from now.

BigWerm wrote:

Really feel for kids like your son, crappy deal and hope they don’t have to make some tough decisions between sports.

They will be lucky if they have a choice to make. It will be hard on the kids but sports are just sports. I think it’s hanging out and playing with their friends they will miss the most.

I could care less if my grandkids ever went back into a school, but it’s the interaction with other kids and adults I worry about.

Rubber is starting to meet the road with school details now.

College bound athletes won’t be missing as much as the last year kids who won’t be taking their athletics to the next level. Really miss out on what is a fun year for seniors and sports.

That’s just it. It’s not just the kids either. The head football coach also happens to be my sons hurdles and sprints coach. How would that work this spring??
He ran at state as a sophomore, and is being recruited by mostly D3 schools to run hurdles. But he lost last spring, and may lose next spring also. And with no times for possibly 2 years what schools will stay interestedly? He has already said he won’t choose if both are played in spring, he will do both.

He will literally step off the football field, lose the pads, change cleats for spikes, and run sprints and hurdles for track.

Dutch, not sure if you played sports or not, but sports are just not sports at some schools. They are as important for kids social development as in-school interaction. As I said his school is kinda small (350 total in grades 9-12). Well over half of his class plays at least 1 sport and a lot play multiple. There is huge benefits in that. At 57, my best long term friends are those I played basketball with in high school and college.

Maybe what I’m most bummed about is I was really looking forward to sitting in the stands on a crisp fall night.

MN’s plan isn’t ideal but I give them credit for doing what they can. As a football coach, I feel this gives my kids the best chance of starting their season and ending it with a game rather than some “positive tests” or outbreak.

WI’s plan is absolutely terrible. It’s conference by conference with some saying they aren’t offering fall sports until spring and others saying they are as usual. If you play in fall and your season is shut down, you would not be able to move your season to Spring after the fact.

Its horrible to say but I believe the public school sports seasons will be stopped completely.

But just to play along…… What’s gonna be different in March?

If anyone says HS sports aren’t worth the risk or they are not as important as HS academics was never part of true competitive athletics. Most important and influential part of my HS experience.

xplorer wrote:

being recruited by mostly D3 schools to run hurdles. But he lost last spring, and may lose next spring also. And with no times for possibly 2 years what schools will stay interestedly?

Thankfully most D3 schools will allow anyone to try out, and depending on the sport #s may keep everyone around too. But I agree 100% with you about the socialization and camaraderie, almost all of my best friends I played high school or college sports with. Also I played with a lot of kids whose only motivation to succeed in school was to stay eligible for sports, I worry about those kids too.

joe-winter wrote:

Its horrible to say but I believe the sports seasons will be stopped completely.

But just to play along…… What’s gonna be different in March?

If anyone says HS sports aren’t worth the risk or they are not as important as HS academics was never part of true competitive athletics. Most important and influential part of my HS experience.

What’s going to be different is that we will have months of data to measure what happens when you put hundreds (or even thousands) of highschool kids in building when a virus that’s difficult to measure or see is going through the country. What public schools in the US have been wide open so far? By then we will know if kids truly are less susceptible to getting the virus or whether some of that is a function of NOT being in schools during this. It’s tough to put much if any stock into studies about school aged kids until they’ve actually been in school. We will know by Spring whether or not this virus is going to run through most Midwestern schools or not, and can then hopefully have good plans in place to play entire seasons (even if they are shortened).

Yep, I agree Bucky. And so you suppose the reaction is gonna be totally different to positives then??? How about a hospitilization? Sorry bud, this used to be about deaths and icu stays and is now about positive watch and eradicating it in order to live life. Not happening by March. Sorry for the pessimistic view.

BigWerm wrote:

Also I played with a lot of kids whose only motivation to succeed in school was to stay eligible for sports, I worry about those kids too.

I totally agree. We had more than a few of these types of guys. Sadly a few most likely would have been drunk or high, more often than not, without sports.

I hope coaches will contact these kids and keep them motivated, not only for sports but also life in general.

I feel sad for all these Kids these day. I hope we get to a point soon ( I don’t think so ) that things can somewhat return to normal for them. Like other here, some of my best HS memories and friendships came through high school sports. I am glad that Sports is still a big thing not only for kids but for the communities in some cities. I know where my daughter goes to school it just doesn’t seem to be as much of a big deal as it use to be in my school and Town. I’ve went with her to a few different sporting events in the last few years and it just didn’t seem like much student or community support. When I was glowing up HS football games were a big Friday night event. Almost every student went to the game and there was tons of community people who did as well. Even the Farmers would make it a point to make it into town for a home football game and that time of the year is a really busy one for them.

BigWerm wrote:

< Also I played with a lot of kids whose only motivation to succeed in school was to stay eligible for sports, I worry about those kids too.

This is so true. I remember lots of kids that the only reason they put in effort in school or stay out of trouble was to stay eligible for sports. Without sports there would have been many kids who would have failed or dropped out of school. As well as ALOT more who would spend much more times at drinking parties.

blackbay wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
Also I played with a lot of kids whose only motivation to succeed in school was to stay eligible for sports, I worry about those kids too.

I totally agree. We had more than a few of these types of guys. Sadly a few most likely would have been drunk or high, more often than not, without sports.

I hope coaches will contact these kids and keep them motivated, not only for sports but also life in general.

I agree 100% to this.. Was very common when I was in school. I graduated in 1998 and would say this rang true for 30% of the guys I played ball with. HS sports were my world for years. Some of the best times and best friends I have had came from high school sports. Its a shame. The kids should be priority #1 but are not. I see many reference to them as germ spreaders and risk to the community. Without school, sports and common structure there are a bigger risks down the road in my opinion.

Here is a good link to other states.. I work with people all over the lower 48. I know some kids are already playing football. We dont have to wait till March to see how this will go. We just need other states to keep transparent and will learn from them quicker than we can learn from ourselves…

https://www.maxpreps.com/news/qiL5GOXkFkyfJ9jwZ8wb-g/where-the-start-of-high-school-sports-stands-in-all-50-states-amid-pandemic.htm

HS football starting March 15th…
“Offense over there by the snow drift.” “Defense over their by the ice dams.” “special teams try not to kick the balls into the flooded areas of the practice field.”

Really starting to get beyond embarrassing with how the powers at be are handling this situation. If you continue to think what is happening is “necessary” and for the “greater good” or “to keep everyone safe” at this point you’re an absolute clown.

Covid is not even on the top 10 list of risks to kids playing football. To make so many kids pay for a political ploy by sacrificing some of the most memorable and influential years of their lives is beyond shameful. If to want to play the “im scared to for the kids to go back to school” or “jeez we don’t know what could happen” grow up or at least quiet down and go away and let the adults get back to normal life.

Go cower in your basement with your mask on so you dont get the big bad Covid sniffles for 2 days and let everyone else live again. We have never been so scared of something like we are suddenly now and statistically speaking its getting ridiculous for mortality rates vs other ways people die. “CASES” are not the same as “positives”. If they wanted to test everyone for Herpes Zoster virus (chicken pox) you’d get the same scary numbers.

Very disappointed for all the kids that got screwed over

gimruis wrote:

I’d be surprised if any football other than the NFL is played this season.

Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. If the MLB regular season is not on track for completion in late-Sept, I doubt the NFL season will begin in mid-Sept.

Already have been hearing about some Minnesota kids coming over here to South Dakota to play football this fall.. and then go back to play their home state season in the spring.
If you trying to go to the next level, 1 whole “extra” football season than some others is definitely a leg up.
Hard to believe that the “land of 10,000” regulations would allow that, but its probably so new and with all the changes and challenges.. they wont know until its too late..??

The next town over from me is IOWA. (about 15 miles). We are awaiting to hear if they cancel or move their season over there… to see if we are going to see a influx of kids that want to jump the state line and play ball.
-WE MIGHT NEED MORE JERSEYS!!!-

tornadochaser wrote:

HS football starting March 15th…
“Offense over there by the snow drift.” “Defense over their by the ice dams.” “special teams try not to kick the balls into the flooded areas of the practice field.”

I got ^^this image in my head when I saw the proposed date.
The first days of Esko’s “spring” track practice in mid March is spent shoveling the 1-2′ of snow off 2 lanes of the Esko track so the sprinters can at least run.
No idea where they’d put a whole football field of snow at.
I was thinking that there is no way there will be Basketball starting in 3 months. Indoors, way more close contact than football, and everyone on the courts touching the same ball. No chance…..

You all know what our grounds are like in march… Frozen with a nice soft film of thaw on top. Talk about a slippery mess of mud. I guess unless your playing on artificial turf this will be the scenario. What a mess.. Get ready for flag football in the gym.

Iowa high school football is on at this point. Summer baseball and softball went off in Iowa with a few COVID issues but not many. A 4 star QB from Colorado transferred to Des Moines to play football this fall as football in Colorado has been moved to Spring. The QB has already accepted a scholarship to Kansas or Kansas State. I assume that he will then early enroll to college. His parents moved to Iowa so he can play immendiately.Interesting times for sure….

buschman wrote:

You all know what our grounds are like in march… Frozen with a nice soft film of thaw on top. Talk about a slippery mess of mud. I guess unless your playing on artificial turf this will be the scenario. What a mess.. Get ready for flag football in the gym.

Agreed. I played rugby in college in the Spring, and would not recommend it. Playing on a frozen field is terrible for all your joints, and the day after a game could hardly bend my knees or elbows they were so swollen.

BigWerm wrote:

Agreed. I played rugby in college in the Spring, and would not recommend it. Playing on a frozen field is terrible for all your joints, and the day after a game could hardly bend my knees or elbows they were so swollen.

We played a state high school football game on a field that had gotten 12″ of wet snow on it earlier in the week. They used a skid steer to clear the field, rutting it up, then the temp dropped and the ruts froze. One of my teammates tore his ACL that game, and I think one of the guys on the opposing team did too.

Don’t see how it couldn’t have been treated region by region! Little Falls and our opponents as far as I know are in areas with very minimal positive cases! Wish they could have done a metro and out state type scenario like he did with school