Commitment reaffirmed

Have no fear Louisiana High School sports fans, the LHSAA has swatted away any doubts that they are committed to a “safe return” to fall sports.
This coming on the heels of a letter sent Monday by State Senator Cleo Fields to the BESE board, asking the board to consider suspending all athletic events until December.
On Tuesday, BESE released a statement in response to Field’s request noting that they have no authority to shut down fall sports and that the responsibility for such a shut down lay in the hands of the individual school districts and the LHSAA.
The LHSAA’s indirect response to Fields’ letter came in the form of a memo sent out Wednesday afternoon.
The memo reads “Now, more than ever, we are reminded that our communities need high school sports. Interscholastic competition supports the physical, emotional and mental well-being of student-athletes across Louisiana. The LHSAA is fully committed to the safe return of high school athletics this fall. We encourage member schools to follow LHSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee Guidelines to ensure the safety of our student-athletes, coaches and administrators. Reopening high school sports depends on all of us working together.”
However, the reaffirmation of the commitment to making sure that fall sports goes forward does not include what the return of those sports will actually look like. In reality, the LHSAA still has a number of questions that have to be answered regarding the landscape of Louisiana high school athletics come mid-August.
Will fall sports start on time, or will the seasons be pushed back? Will the fall sports seasons be modified in any way, shape or form? What happens if a player tests positive for COVID-19 once a season begins?
All of these are serious issues that still have to be addressed by the governing board of Louisiana high school athletics.
For all intents and purposes, how and if fall sports do return on time may be out of the hands of the LHSAA. That decision may well be determined by the Governor’s office.
As of now, sports like football that have a ton of contact, cannot be played because of the phase of recovery that the state is in. In fact those contact sports cannot proceed until after the state has moved past Phase III in its recovery plan. As of now, no one really knows when that will happen.
Once that determination is made, there is no doubt that making sure football plays a full season will be a main driving factor as to how the LHSAA calender will look. As discussed in previous articles, football is the main source of income for athletic departments in a majority of Louisiana high schools.
Recently, the LHSAA sent out an exploratory questionnaire to all coaches in the state. The questionnaire was designed to get ideas on how to go forward with athletics.
The questions ranged from minimum number of weeks needed to get prepared for the season to how open coaches would be to delaying the start of the season to how open coaches are to moving seasons. So far there has been no word on the responses from the coaches, but one would tend to believe that the answers from football coaches would take a front seat to all other responses.
There is no doubt that football is a sport that requires a certain amount of time to prepare for a full season of play. With the full on contact and the battering of bodies that take place in the sport, players have to be in top condition.
So, the question is, how long does that take?
In normal high school sports seasons, contact in football begins in early August, so that players are prepared for their first full game about four weeks later. For Basile head football coach Kevin Bertrand, the time needed for preparation is valuable.
“We would definitely need three to four weeks to get fully prepared for the season,” said Bertrand. “I would hate for us to lose a single game. I am willing to do whatever we can to play a full season. As coaches, bottom line is we want to play.”
In talking with Sacred Heart head football coach Josh Harper on Wednesday, the question of delaying the start of a season seems to be a biggest one of all.
“From what I am hearing, the talk is to move back all sports seasons for 2020-21,” said Harper. “This would make sure that all sports would have full seasons. So, depending on how far back the fall sports are pushed, we could see baseball and softball championships not determined until June. Anything that is decided is going to depend heavily on the phase of recovery we are in.”
Mamou head coach Dwight Collins says that he is hopeful to get things going on time.
“A know there are a lot of factors involved in getting the season started when it is scheduled to start,” commented Collins. “I am for any plan that allows us to play safely. I know for us, we need a full season. We are going to be very young, so every game is important to us.”