How Centre County high school football teams are preparing for an uncertain season
High school sports are inching closer to a return amid the coronavirus pandemic, but not without an abundance of caution. All five Centre County football programs have begun a phased return to play, with four of the five beginning workouts within the past two weeks.
State College is the lone team that has yet to begin its summer program. The Little Lions will start working out Wednesday
The other four schools, all of which play in the Mountain League, have already started their workouts. Penns Valley was the first to get underway on June 22, followed by Philipsburg-Osceola on June 24, Bald Eagle Area on June 29 and Bellefonte on July 1.
All five schools have released their own detailed return to play plans for summer workouts that include restrictions on what teams are allowed to do and detail social distancing practices to keep players safe.
The detailed plans vary from school-to-school but all follow the same general guidelines. They’re currently permitted to hold team meetings and conditioning and weight training that follow social distancing protocols. On-field work is allowed at all five schools as long as equipment is frequently — and properly — sanitized and social distancing takes place during skill-focused training.
All practices must be noncontact until further notice and are intended to be focused on skill development rather than team-related drills.
Bald Eagle Area head coach Jesse Nagle’s team has been on the field and in the weight room for just over a week trying to get acclimated to the new rules and regulations.
“We split the kids up in half,” he told the Centre Daily Times. “Roughly 15-20 kids will be using the weight room and outside the weight room working out. They have to wear masks, long pants and long shirts. While they’re doing that the other group is on the field doing agility work and speed work.”
While teams are still practicing and getting ready for a potential, there’s still no guarantee a season happens. Several states are putting plans in place to start a return to sports in time for the 2020 high school football season, including Pennsylvania, but there still hasn’t been a determination about whether the seasons will start in time, or at all.
Fishers High School in Indiana began its offseason workout program but was shut down this week after a positive test forced 15-20 students to quarantine, according to The Indianapolis Star’s Kyle Neddenriep.
Dallas Independent School District superintendent Michael Hinojosa told NBC News that he’s “pretty sure” there won’t be high school football in Texas in 2020, according to a report by Pro Football Talk. Texas is a high school football hotbed and includes some of the biggest programs in the country.
The return to practice is a positive sign in the right direction for those who want high-schoolers to take the field this fall, but it doesn’t guarantee a return. Nagle was mindful of that, but hoped the course remained steady and his team would be able to compete this season. He said his team is doing what it can while making sure the kids stay as safe as possible with the hopes of getting to see a 2020 season.
In the meantime, coaches like Nagle and Bellefonte’s Shanon Manning are doing their best to take advantage of a difficult situation to keep their players on track and involved in the program.
“Our weight training has been modified but, effective,” Manning told the CDT in a text. “The on-field portion has been reduced to installation to the basics, which is a great opportunity stress the fundamentals.”
While coaches are doing what they can to keep their teams prepared, only time will tell if they’re preparing for a season that will actually happen.
