Will there be private school football? Gov. Roy Cooper will have a lot to say about that
The N.C. Independent Schools plan to play fall sports, perhaps even football, if N.C. Governor Roy Cooper moves the state into Phase 3 of its reopening plan next week.
NCISAA executive director Homar Ramirez said the association will allow low and moderate risk sports to begin practice on Aug. 10, provided Cooper moves the state forward.
Ramirez said low risk fall sports were cross-country, golf and tennis. He said moderate risk sports were field hockey, soccer and volleyball. Those teams could begin playing games later in the month.
Ramirez said football, a high-risk sport, still does not have a date for the start of practice, but after meeting with coaches last week, the NCISAA had targeted potential first playing dates of Sept. 18 and Sept. 25, provided North Carolina is in Phase 3.
“Our board of advisors has been meeting weekly since March,” Ramirez said. “They are serving as our task force for all things COVID-related. Really, everything is up in the air at this point, and all contingencies are being considered.”
Cooper could’ve moved the state into Phase 3 on July 17, but decided to stay in Phase 2 for three more weeks, until at least Friday, Aug. 7. Cooper said he was still troubled by North Carolina’s coronavirus numbers and trends.
Cooper’s team monitors several benchmarks, including hospitalizations, positive cases and testing, to determine when North Carolina can lift restrictions that have been in place for months.
Under Phase 2, mass gatherings are limited to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors. NCISAA teams have been having non-contact summer workouts under the Phase 2 guidelines.
Charlotte Country Day football coach Drew Witman said those workouts have been good for his players’ emotional well-being, and he’s happy to have them, but he said everyone really wants to know when and if the season will officially begin.
“I’m hoping every day for us to play football,” Witman said, “but the reality is I can’t control that. I’m just giving the kids everything I’ve got with the all the protocols we’re given.”
Witman said his players fill out health questionnaires daily and have temperature screenings. They arrive on campus with masks and keep them on except when going through socially distanced drills.
“The energy level has just been great,” he said. “You can tell the kids enjoy being around each other. They seem to be very enthusiastic just to be out there running around. It’s fun to see.”
Ramirez said after Cooper’s announcement, the state association and football coaches would meet to determine next steps. Ramirez said if the state remained in Phase 2, that didn’t necessarily mean that fall football is off the table.
Some states, including Virginia, have moved football to the spring. Ramirez said the NCISAA has not completely studied how spring football might work. Virginia’s plan calls for winter sports to play first, beginning in late December, followed by traditional fall sports, followed by spring.
Witman said spring football in the NCISAA would be difficult.
“As a football coach, I’d love to play football,” he said, “but we have a lot of spring athletes. Football is not all of our kids’ main sport. A lot of them have a main sport in the spring. With our rosters not being as big as some of the bigger (public) schools, that’s a tough ask, and I don’t want to put the kids in a situation to choose. Like I said, I’d love to play football, somehow, someway, but I don’t see how spring football can work at our institutions. I’d love to talk it through and see what we can do. I’m not going to say don’t play football.
“I’m always up for a conversation”
NCISAA makes changes to football playoffs
The NCISAA playoffs will move from three classes to two in 2020, Ramirez said.
Ramirez said 19 of the association’s 97 teams play 11-man football. He said six teams will make the Division I playoffs and eight will play Division II. Both playoffs will last three weeks. The state finals are tentatively scheduled for Nov. 20. Ramirez noted all of that is dependent on a move to Phase 3 and the season kicking off.
