Tully NY- The future of high school Student-athletes has become more challenging after the coronavirus pandemic cancels team sports making it harder for High School athletes to transition to College Athletics. delays. Section 3 sports administrators voted on different options for the continuation of section lll fall and winter sports.
Section lll executive director, John Rathbun said they sent out surveys to 116 districts asking them to pick one of three options. Those options were; Let low-risk sports play like soccer and not let high-risk sports play such as volleyball, Just delay high-risk sports till after Jan 1, or move all low and high-risk sports till after Jan 1.
Tully High School assistant soccer coach Tim Hynes has seen how recruiting this year could be a battle for his players to get recognition. Around mid-September, Fall sports were cleared to play with an agreement to shorten the number of games on the schedule while enforcing Cold-19 restrictions listed by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA).
Hynes said “Not having sectionals or anything to fight for demoralized the kids so their performances were below what they would have been with sectionals. And not being able to play during the summer crippled teams in not having a preseason”
The decision to conduct off-season conditioning activities is determined by the individual school districts. This made it nearly impossible for most student-athletes to have an effective preseason let alone valuable practice time for athletes who want to play in college.
Without in-person recruiting college visits or tournaments, this time has made it more important than ever for student-athletes to maximize their presence and to be proactive in starting recruiting conversations with coaches.
“It has made them have to perform at their top at all games because if a scout makes it out to come to see them with the restrictions of Covid that might be the only time that scout can come see them,” said Hynes
Players planning to play a college sport now have to dig deep and make sure they stand out in more than one way. Grace Jones knows that things are different this year and gonna have to be on top of their game.
Grace Jones said “A lot of adjustments I’ve had to make like working out at home and getting ready for the season. It’s been hard getting open field time for scrimmages and shooting drills and practice dribbling. We were unable to have our cancer game this year with fans. Any atmosphere there could have been at games was gone”
Just last Tuesday Nov, 17 The New York state public high school association pushed back the start of Hockey, basketball, wrestling, competitive cheerleading, and volleyball seasons till after Jan 4th. 600.000 student-athletes who want to play in college are counting on the decision of State officials and the NYSPHSAA.
