State College athletes and parents rally support for a fall sports season ahead of board meeting
State College is allowed — by the Mid-Penn Conference — to begin football games and other fall sports contests in just over a week, but the status of the fall season is still shrouded in uncertainty.
The State College Area school board of directors will be voting on a proposal from the athletic department Thursday night that would allow the start of the competitive season. While the leanings of the board members are unknown, it appears to be clear where local parents and students stand on the issue.
“We’ve tried to exhaust every single thing that we can to get our athletes to be able to play,” Jen Vandevort, the mother of a State High football player, said.
Vandevort was on of the parents who attended rally Wednesday night to urge the school board to approve the Health and Safety Plan for athletics and allow the season to get started.
Hosted by the combined State College Fall Sports Booster Clubs, the goal of the rally was to voice concern that the school district is “behind in the PIAA required approval process and in danger of missing” the fall season that “virtually ever other school district” in their league and region are participating in.
If approved, the plan would allow for some fall sport to begin as early as Friday, but would include several precautions to limit the risk of spreading COVID-19. Football players, deemed the highest risk sport by the National Federation of State High School Associations, would be required to enroll in virtual learning to play and would have to remain in it until 14 days after the team’s final game is played.
Programs would also be limited to a smaller schedule — about 50% of the size of the usual schedule according to the plan — and would play mostly within the Mid-Penn Conference.
If the school would have to return to remote learning entirely, all contact sports — field hockey, football, soccer and volleyball — would not be allowed to compete outside of the school district, but would allow for scrimmages to prepare teams for an eventual safe return to competitive play.
Student-athletes would also have to wear a face covering when within 6 feet of another person and “appropriate social distancing of six feet will be maintained on sidelines/bench during contests and events.”
Vandevort’s son is a junior on the State College high school football team, and she believes the return of sports are good for children like hers, who can learn valuable life lessons while playing the games they love.
“I believe it’s important for their mental well-being and teaches a lot of lessons,” Vandevort said. “They’ve worked so hard. Competing in athletic competition provides opportunities and experiences that help individuals grow.”
It isn’t just parents voicing their desire for a return of competition this fall. State College senior running back Dresyn Green — whose brother Jashaun is a junior on the team — spoke passionately at a school board meeting on Sept. 1 about why football is so important to him and reiterated his beliefs to the Centre Daily Times on Wednesday.
“It’s important to me because I grew up playing with my brother,” Green told the CDT. “Not having this last season to play with him would be hard for me and him. We’ve been through so much. Football took our minds away from everything and gave us a place to put our emotions.”
Green remains hopeful that he’ll get a chance to play out his senior year. He’s spent three years under State High head coach Matt Lintal and has used the sport to grow as a person.
“Football has really matured me,” Green said. “In my freshman year, I was pretty immature. Then Coach Lintal and some other coaches showed me the path and guided me in the right direction to become a better young man.”
