NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker: ‘I wish club teams would cease operations for few weeks.’
N.C. HIgh School Athletic Association commissioner Que Tucker thinks that club sports can have a negative impact on high school sports getting started -- and finishing their seasons.
Tucker spoke to more than 50 media members across the state, including the Charlotte Observer and News & Observer Monday morning.
“This is not to slam our programs that are outside of our school umbrella,” Tucker said. “Club teams have been playing all summer, on into the fall. Perhaps, if I’m a volleyball player or I’m hoping that we’re going to get our basketball season off and running, I need to make a commitment that I’m going to turn those loose, because I don’t know what those people are doing. I have a pretty good idea of what my teammates at high school are doing, so I’m going to let the club scene go. And I wish there was a way that our club sports right now would dial it back, would cease to do what they’ve been doing because we’re trying to play at the high school level.
“If I had a wish list that would be it: that the club sports would move into the background a little bit and let’s give our high school teams a chance to play.”
Throughout the fall, there have been football camps and combines as well as basketball and volleyball leagues, sometimes featuring high school teams playing under a different name and coached by someone not on the school staff.
“It is concerning,” Tucker said. “We don’t have authority over any of those programs. I know...club volleyball has been playing and they have not been wearing masks. I know it because parents put it in emails to me, that their child has been playing club volleyball all summer and not wearing masks. I’ve also seen instances where our high school students have been participating with those entities and as a result, we now hear about them perhaps having an outbreak.
“You just draw conclusions that if I’m a club sport volleyball player and we’re traveling out of state, well, I don’t know: Where did I sit when i was out of state? Where did I go and eat?...What did I do that perhaps put me at greater risk? If I had a magic wand and I could wave it and I could say to all of those outside club programs that are impacting our students here in NC who are trying to get sports going and trying to play some contest I’d wave that wand and have those club programs to cease operation for a few weeks.”
▪ Tucker said the realignment process is moving forward, and the NCHSAA Board of Directors has approved the current plan. She said the membership would receive more information about the next steps this week.
She said the timetable would evolve after Thanksgiving break.
▪ Tucker said while volleyball players must currently play in masks, the NCHSAA doesn’t currently have plans to make basketball players wear them once practices begin in December or games in January.
Tucker said basketball players must wear masks for skill development and that teams shouldn’t be scrimmaging or having 3-on-3s or 2-on-2s right now.
“I’m keenly aware that wearing masks while playing basketball and perhaps for other sports is an issue,” Tucker said, “and our sports medicine advisory committee will advise us wet get closer to the start date, especially for basketball. We are asking our out-of-season coaches and athletes across the state to dial it back a bit at least for a week. Wear the masks in skill development so we might have a chance to play basketball and all sports for that matter.”
▪ Tucker said the NCHSAA Board of Directors required volleyball players and all indoor sports participants wear masks. Volleyball, which is in season, will be required to wear masks during games.
“We believe this is a necessary and a safe step to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 for our programs,” Tucker said.
She said several volleyball teams have reported being in quarantine due to positive tests.
▪ Tucker said she’s spoken with NC Independent Schools executive director Homar Ramirez about the private schools hosting sports this fall. She noted the NCISAA has spectator limits and hopes the NCHSAA can get to the end of its playoffs and name state champions like the NCISAA has done. The final NCISAA state finals in football will be held this weekend.
NCISAA winter sports began last week.
“We’re experiencing a surge now, which wasn’t the same as when those independent schools started their fall sports back in September,” Tucker said. “We knew this was going to happen because the doctors and researchers have been telling us.”
Tucker said dealing with rising cases means changing strategies, such as the indoor mask mandates.
▪ If outdoor sports, like football, have to go inside for weather reasons, those athletes will be required to wear masks, Tucker said.
▪ Volleyball is allowed two games per week currently. Tucker said an extra week was built in for early sports to allow for holiday breaks. She said if a team has to postpone due to COVID, that team can make those games up by working with the association. That could allow a school, for example, to play three games in a week. One of those three would be a COVID make-up.
▪ Tucker said schools have expressed financial concerns due to lack of sports and a lack of spectators at sports that are returning. She said the NCHSAA will look at opportunities to offer financial assistance, but said the association was not set up to fund its 421 member schools’ sports programs.
She made the NCHSAA gave back more than $1.2 million to schools this fall. She said last school year it gave $120,000 in grants for needs expressed by the membership.
Since 2010, Tucker said, the NCHSAA has returned more than $13 million to schools out of the association’s endowment fund.
▪ NCHSAA has received concerns about availability of pools throughout the state. She said due to that lack of facilities, some swim teams may not be able to compete this year. “We hope that won’t happen,” Tucker said.
▪ If games be made up, they will be made up due to COVID-19. If not, those games will go down as a no-contest.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 10:25 AM.
