Huddle Up: If you care about fall sports, you have to do your part

Remember last fall, when we used to stand so close together and scenes like the Leavitt football team celebrating a region title — and a week later, a state title — played out several times in November? Let’s do what we can to make that happen again. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Happy Independence Day!

Hopefully you are reading this while preparing for a barbecue or finishing up your coffee before heading out for a round of golf, or after a joyful, hopefully sunny and relaxing day with family and friends. Safely, of course.

And if you are reading this, I will take this opportunity to thank you as a subscriber to our newspaper. We need you more than you need us.

There is no more self-congratulating industry outside of Hollywood than journalism, and more and more these days some people in my occupation are patting themselves on the back for fomenting division. But please trust me, like so many of you, we’ve had to scratch and claw just to keep our livelihood alive and thriving.

Beyond the bylines and photo credits you see in this space, it takes a lot of hard-working people to get you this news and information, whether it’s delivered to you online or on your doorstep. The overwhelming majority of them never get their name or face in print or on your phone, but they do it every day anyway and they certainly don’t get rich doing it. Even though I’m known as “the hulking and surly Randy Whitehouse” around the office (so dubbed by the great Mark Laflamme), I miss them.

The people that I work with more directly, even though we rarely see each other these days, are regular people, too. We’d be a lot richer, though, if we got a nickel for each time someone asked us, “What is there to write about?” over the past three-plus months.

The fact is there has been more to write about than any of us ever would have predicted once it became clear no one would be playing any games for a while.

It hasn’t been easy, but in the rankings of professional stress in the age of COVID-19, sportswriter ranks pretty low, way down there with sports talk show host and meter maid.

One guy whose blood pressure I do worry about, is our boss, sports editor Lee Horton, who somehow manages to keep us all in line and organized while also motivated. He’s managed those day-to-day operations while also putting countless hours gathering information and photos for the senior spotlights that we’ve been publishing semi-regularly since May. He dreamed up the series so that we could recognize the spring sports seniors who had what should be one of the best times of their life taken from them through no fault of their own.

The series certainly doesn’t fill that void, but hopefully it helps people realize, not just now but in future generations, what they lost.

The teammates and coaches those seniors left behind know all too well what they went through, and are nervous about what lies ahead. Even the most encouraging signs of a return to normalcy bring anxiety with them.

On Monday, many schools in some parts of the state will begin taking the first step back to normal. It will be the first time coaches and athletes will be able to meet in person since schools were shut down in March. Some schools won’t begin until later in the week. Schools in Cumberland and York counties have agreed to delay any in-person contact until Aug. 3. Some schools outside of southern Maine don’t even know yet when, or even if, they can take that first step and are still awaiting direction from their school board.

The Maine Principals’ Association has tweaked its summer sports guidelines several times in the weeks since it initially released them in May. Practices will be limited to conditioning and can only be held outside as part of Phase 1, which will last until July 19.

Phase 2 will start July 20 and, among other things, allow athletes to work out in larger groups, indoors (at the school’s discretion) as well as outdoors, receive skill-specific instruction from coaches and run sports-specific drills. At no point this summer will games be played, nor will player-on-player competition be permitted.

Phase 2 ends Aug. 2, but instead of the traditional two-week hands-off period, Phase 3 will begin and be considered the start of fall sports preseason, but the details of that phase are still in development.

All things considered, the first two phases are solid, even though coaches, athletes and parents still have some questions about what they can do this summer.

What happens this fall is even more of an unknown. Virtually everything, from shorter and/or more localized schedules to swapping fall and spring sports, seems to be on the table. At least there is still a table when it comes to high school sports. Some college athletes would love to just have the hope of a fall season to cling to.

Anyone who has given any thought to any of the possibilities can’t help but come to one conclusion: whatever form high school sports takes in the fall of 2020, a lot will have to go right for it to happen at all.

We can’t control everything that needs to go right, but there is a lot we can. And it will only take a few selfish people to mess it all up.

The bottom line is everyone involved in high school sports wants there to be a fall season. The kids need it the most, but we obviously need it as a society.

So, parents and athletes, wear your mask, wash your hands, give coaches a break (they’re probably more scared someone will get sick than you are) and follow the guidelines put forth by the state, the MPA and your school, If we pull this off, we can keep the spotlights on the field, let our sports editor get some rest and, most important, show those trying to divide us what we’re capable of when we do it together.