County sports shuttered
- Updated: December 14, 2020
Calhoun County Schools suspend winter sports through Jan. 1 following AHSAA recommendation on limiting indoor attendance
Monday’s games
Anniston at Cleburne County
Gadsden City at Piedmont
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
After hearing the AHSAA’s guidance earlier in the day to limit attendance at indoor athletics events to 20 percent, the Calhoun County School board today has decided to suspend athletics events within its member schools through Jan. 1.
The recommendation was made in hopes of mitigating the surge in coronavirus cases around the state in hopes of giving teams an opportunity to play later in the season.
“Due to the rise in positive COVID cases in our state, the AHSAA has mandated a 20 percent or less capacity regulation on all athletic events,” the district posted on its homepage. “At this time all athletic events are canceled until Jan. 1, 2021. We will try to reschedule events when and if possible.”
Calhoun County school superintendent Donald Turner wasn’t immediately available for additional comment.
The ruling only applies to the seven high schools in the Calhoun County system and its feeder programs. Its schools began virtual learning Monday.
Calhoun County teams will be allowed to practice during the suspension, but there will be no outside competition. On January 1 officials will reevaluate the situation about moving forward.
There are 14 varsity-playing high schools in Calhoun County. Not all are following the county’s lead.
Oxford’s Larry Davidson, the athletics director at the county’s largest school, said his programs were still playing “if possible.” Anniston still plans on playing its games, including tonight’s area matchup at Cleburne County and Tuesday’s area game at Munford.
Faith Christian plans to play its two basketball games this week, including an area game with Jacksonville Christian Friday, and make its trip to the Hilburn-Patterson Haralson County (Ga.) Invitational over the holidays as scheduled. Headmaster Chip Jones said the school would likely return to its fall attendance protocols of allowing only players’ immediate family members to attend games.
“We want to go as long and as far as we can,” he said.
Donoho School announced it was shuttering sports until January. Jacksonville schools recently announced a shutdown of its winter sports, per policy, following a move to virtual learning. Piedmont will continue playing with home games tonight (Gadsden City) and Tuesday (Cherokee County).
Some schools playing and others sitting raises competitive balance concerns. At least one basketball area involving local teams, Class 4A Area 9, is represented by five different school districts, all of whom could have varying policies – Calhoun County (White Plains), Anniston City (Anniston), Talladega County (Munford), Cleburne County (Cleburne County) and Roanoke City (Handley). Another, 3A Area 11, has three Calhoun County system schools and Piedmont. Another, 3A Area 9, has two Calhoun County schools and one from Talladega County.
“Everyone needs to try to get on the same footing,” Jacksonville basketball coach Cordell Hunt said.
While safety is at the center of the decision, there also is an economic element. Not all of the gyms in Calhoun County are the same size and there were concerns schools with smaller gyms wouldn’t be able to meet game expenses that can reach $900 for game officials with a 20-percent capacity limit, some of which would be taken up by ASHAA coaching cards and other passes.
The shutdown hits just as several county teams are just beginning to get their seasons underway, delayed either by their school’s participation in the state football playoffs or their own coronavirus protocols and quarantines.
“It’s tough,” said Pleasant Valley’s Brad Hood, who was starting his first season with the Raiders’ boys. “You work, work, work and get ready to play and we’re fighting through the quarantines and getting into the season and the kids were looking forward to it and they find out it’s shut down and it’s not even guaranteed (to return).
“We’re going to practice today and I’ve got to look them in the eyes and tell them let’s practice hard and get better, but by the way we may not even get to play again. It’s just hard to motivate. You can’t tell them whether they’re doing it for nothing or there’s a possibility (they’ll get to play again). The uncertainty is what makes it so tough. These kids, this is about all they really had to look forward to.
“It is what it is. You’ve just got to show up and go to work and have the best attitude we can about it and hope for the best, which is not looking good at the moment.”
There was strong speculation some movement on winter sports would be made once the state completed its lucrative high school football season and that complaint was echoed again on social media after the disclosure of the county’s announcement. The updated guidance comes less than 10 days after the completion of the state championship football games and two days after the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic. The North-South All-Star Game, which has the head coach and seven players from the impacted County schools, remains on for this weekend.
Coaches say comparing the two, however, is like the proverbial apples to oranges. White Plains coach Chris Randall doesn’t believe a complete shutdown of the basketball season is on the table and has every confidence the AHSAA will do everything within its power to complete the campaign.
“I hate it for our kids,” Randall said. “We’ve been getting some ideas that this was coming. We kept hoping we could continue on, but our administration they’re doing their best to keep folks safe and to keep our kids safe. They have a very, very difficult job and they’re doing what they think is best for our student-athletes and we support them 100 percent.
“It’s uncharted waters. None of us have ever been through a situation like this. Our kids understand each game they play could be their last, each practice could be their last, and I feel like our guys have done a good job of enjoying each other and enjoying the times they have together and enjoying each day. We don’t worry about things we can’t control and we’ll get to work and we’ll have a good couple weeks of practice and times with our families over the holidays and we’ll be excited when we get back in January.”
The first casualty locally of the county’s decision to suspend play is the Champions Boys Christmas Classic has been canceled. The event was scheduled to begin Saturday is canceled and included four Calhoun County teams (Ohatchee, Saks, Alexandria, Weaver).
The post-Christmas Cleburne County Classic in Heflin has four Calhoun County system teams in its boys and girls brackets. Tournament organizers are looking for replacement teams but are considering turning the event into a showcase to give the remaining teams games to play. It is a huge fundraiser for the Tigers’ program.
“Hopefully all this will pass soon and everything will get back to normal,” Champions tournament director Todd Ginn said.
The current window of the shutdown does not reach into the Calhoun County wrestling or basketball tournaments and for now they remain as scheduled. The wrestling tournament is scheduled for Jan. 4 and the basketball tournament is scheduled to begin Jan. 16.
“As of right now we can still have our January dates to play; hopefully we’ll get them in,” said Saks principal Jody Whaley, the host principal for this year’s county tournament series. “We’ve just got to be smart about it and be careful. Maybe shutting down like this will help get things under control.
“I hope this makes it more possible for us to participate in January. I was skeptical about the football season, but we got it in, so I’m hopeful we can get the basketball season in.”
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