Football must wait. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools delays sports practices indefinitely
High school football, and the run-up to all fall sports, is on hold at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, with the district announcing an indefinite delay for the start of workouts.
The district had planned to allow workouts starting Monday. The postponement was announced Thursday, as the district evaluates state data regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools have been closed in North Carolina since March, with remote learning used to end the 2019-20 school year. N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper was expected to announce a plan for the reopening of schools this week, but delayed that announcement.
“We have consulted with local public health officials, discussed readiness with athletic directors, and reviewed current conditions in our county and the state of North Carolina. Our analysis has revealed that there is much uncertainty and many unanswered questions at the present time,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools said in a prepared statement.
“In view of those considerations, we believe it is in the best interest of our student athletes and our staff to postpone resumption of on-campus athletic activity until we have a greater confidence that doing so will be in an environment that protects health.”
South Mecklenburg High football coach Joe Evans said he appreciates the district’s position, but he and his staff will miss the interaction with players.
“We understand. But we miss our kids,” Evans said. “We all take (the pandemic) very seriously — we would never want to put a kid in a place where there could be undue harm.”
Evans said July is primarily about physical conditioning and technique training before any padded practices.
“It’s a lot of skill development, conditioning, weight room. And we’ll do football-specific stuff, like 7-on-7” drills,” Evans said. “The summer is really an extension of the spring until you get to Aug. 1. Then, Aug. 1 is getting into game-specific stuff.”
The district’s statement said Charlotte-Mecklenburg has been in contact with other school districts, and anticipates similar delays elsewhere. Wake County public schools announced Monday a delay of the start of fall workouts, and also did not set a new date.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association allowed schools to start holding workouts June 15. Iredell County has begun football workouts. Union County plans to begin Monday. Cabarrus County now plans to start July 20.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 2:57 PM.
