Spring high school sports are officially canceled in South Carolina. ‘It’s very sad.’
The cancellation of the sports spring season, which was made official Wednesday, ends the careers of many senior athletes and forces high school programs to look ahead to summer and fall seasons.
High school athletes, coaches and athletic directors in the Tri-County area have since reacted to the new reality.
“I can’t imagine how the seniors feel — or anybody, but specifically the seniors,” Northwestern High School athletic director Jimmy Duncan told The Herald via phone interview Wednesday. “It’s very sad. I understand it’s a safety issue concern, but that doesn’t change the emotions of it.”
The South Carolina High School League addressed several topics via a Zoom video call Wednesday, one of which involved the fate of the spring and summer sports schedules. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman announced during the SCHSL’s call that schools will be closed for the remainder of the year due to the threat of coronavirus.
The SCHSL had met twice amid the coronavirus pandemic, holding out hope that school would resume and allow the sports to be played. In said previous meetings, SCHSL Commissioner Jerome Singleton said playing into June was a possibility if schools remained open.
But that possibility was permanently scrapped Wednesday.
Duncan said he and his teams have been preparing for a variety of outcomes, and that although the spring sports season has ended, there is still uncertainty for the fall and summer seasons.
“Our spring coaches have been trying to give kids individual workouts to keep them ready, to participate if we had the opportunity,” he said. “We’ve been prepping for our fall already. I’ve been talking to our fall coaches. Obviously with football, there’s no spring ball happening.
“I told coaches, you know, ‘I don’t know what June is going to look like. Or July. Or whenever they’re going to have us back.’ So we need to plan for having a normal summer. We need to plan for just July. We need to plan for just having when school starts back in August.”
Clover athletic director Bailey Jackson said he will always remember this senior class.
“This is a great class,” Jackson said. “We were looking forward to competing for some state championships, some region championships, in a couple sports. It’s so unfortunate that they don’t get to do that.”
Jackson said the decision hits especially close to home for him because his daughter is a senior. She will be on the Clemson cheer team next year.
“It’s like a roller coaster as these announcements come out because they affect my child also,” Jackson said. “We tell our players to control what they can control all the time. And that’s all we can do.”
Other notes from the SCHSL meeting
- Finance: The SCHSL approves the proposed 2020-21 budget. League commissioner Jerome Singleton said the budget will be “similar to what we had last year.”
- Boys volleyball: The SCHSL voted against the proposal that boys’ volleyball be sanctioned as a spring sport. Several schools, including Dorman, supported this proposal.
- Girls wrestling: The SCHSL passed a proposal to allow girl wrestlers to have the opportunity to wrestle other girls on three different dates outside of the 16 dates in the wrestling regular season. The motion also clarifies that the girls’ wrestling events can be separately organized from boys’ wrestling events.
- Summer schedule adjustments: The SCHSL declared that it will forgo its dead period July 4, and League staff will open its 2020-21 season on or after June 1, depending on when the governor lifts gathering restrictions due to coronavirus.
- To access the full meeting, visit the SCHSL Facebook page.
Honoring senior athletes
Many school sports team Twitter accounts honored their seniors, sharing pictures and favorite moments.
Athletes from different schools are also having a virtual signing day. Northwestern will have seven athletes sign to play college sports at 1 p.m. Friday via Zoom.
Lewisville football’s Demetric Hardin Jr. signed to Middle Tennessee State on Monday.
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