NEW MEXICO HS FOOTBALL to the Spring

[Indian72]

https://footballscoop.com/news/new-mexico-high-schools-wont-play-football-this-fall/

 

[FormerCoach]

Indiana won't be far behind.  

 

[cw13]

If the season is pushed to the spring.....I really see nothing wrong with it........in the fall we start in warm weather and end in cold......just be the reverse in the spring......the real advantage will be with the spread offenses getting to play in the warmer spring weather during the play-offs, as a opposed to the terrible late October and November weather......that can hinder that style of attack

[wabashalwaysfights]

19 minutes ago, cw13 said:

If the season is pushed to the spring.....I really see nothing wrong with it........in the fall we start in warm weather and end in cold......just be the reverse in the spring......the real advantage will be with the spread offenses getting to play in the warmer spring weather during the play-offs, as a opposed to the terrible late October and November weather......that can hinder that style of attack

I said this three months ago when this possibility got brought up; the issue is not this spring, but the next fall.

[oldunclemark]

21 hours ago, FormerCoach said:

Indiana won't be far behind.  

 

Exactly, coach. I bet they do it in Texas and Florida, for sure.

In Indiana, there very few spring sports that play on Friday night.  Baseball doesnt

Start in March and end in June.

That gives us time to get a vaccine or a treatment for the virus.....Its radical but it makes a lot of sense...

 

[Obi-Wan]

20 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

Exactly, coach. I bet they do it in Texas and Florida, for sure.

In Indiana, there very few spring sports that play on Friday night.  Baseball doesnt

Start in March and end in June.

That gives us time to get a vaccine or a treatment for the virus.....Its radical but it makes a lot of sense...

 

Do you let the boys play both sports? and if you do how do you monitor practices with most baseball taking place during key days of game planning practice for football? 

[Guest]

How do you justify coming back and playing again in the fall if 2021?  That’s one hell of a grind.

[wabashalwaysfights]

42 minutes ago, Temptation said:

How do you justify coming back and playing again in the fall if 2021?  That’s one hell of a grind.

That's what I said when this was brought up before. To my mind, that "grind" would be worse for high school age student-athletes than the threat posed to them by Covid. And I get it, the fear surrounding Covid isn't necessarily just the student-athletes, but still...

[cw13]

If we play in the spring and end in May..................to eliminate the grind.................no summer workouts until August........just weights/conditioning

it is workable

more importantly........if we want football it may be our only option

[wabashalwaysfights]

34 minutes ago, cw13 said:

If we play in the spring and end in May..................to eliminate the grind.................no summer workouts until August........just weights/conditioning

it is workable

more importantly........if we want football it may be our only option

Still one heckuva thing to go through. Think about it, even if you play a 6 game spring season before starting the tournament and then held a normal season in the fall, at minimum that's 17 games in what, roughly 9 months? If you play 2 full seasons that would be a minimum of 20 games in 9 months? If you play even a shortened season in the spring of 2021 you about have to play a shortened fall season in 2021.

[oldunclemark]

7 hours ago, Obi-Wan said:

Do you let the boys play both sports? and if you do how do you monitor practices with most baseball taking place during key days of game planning practice for football? 

No. Boys would have to choose between football and baseball. You couldnt do both, in my mind.

That's a hardship for small schools where the best athletes do both.   No doubt. But this change would just be for this year and the boys would have a choice.

 

[oldunclemark]

6 hours ago, wabashalwaysfights said:

That's what I said when this was brought up before. To my mind, that "grind" would be worse for high school age student-athletes than the threat posed to them by Covid. And I get it, the fear surrounding Covid isn't necessarily just the student-athletes, but still...

Keep in mind, the Class of 2021 would graduate.....and freshman wouldnt have played in the spring because they were not in school yet

Most sophomores would not have played either. 

Spring football would only be for varsity, not JV and freshman teams.

 

Only the junior class would go through the 20 games in 9 month scenario you point out...and they would have the choice to skip one season or the other. 

The nightmare scenario is to start the season and then have to cancel due to positive virus cases. 

 

[wabashalwaysfights]

1 hour ago, oldunclemark said:

Keep in mind, the Class of 2021 would graduate.....and freshman wouldnt have played in the spring because they were not in school yet

Most sophomores would not have played either. 

Spring football would only be for varsity, not JV and freshman teams.

 

Only the junior class would go through the 20 games in 9 month scenario you point out...and they would have the choice to skip one season or the other. 

The nightmare scenario is to start the season and then have to cancel due to positive virus cases. 

 

This is only true at your bigger schools.  Most 1A, 2A, and 3A schools carry freshmen through seniors on their varsity rosters. 

Also, to think that most staffs aren't going to fight for at least JV games (even if only a couple) is fantasy.  Those reps are seen by most small schools as crucial (and they are). You would even see a push for a Jr. H8gh season in most cases.

[oldunclemark]

9 hours ago, wabashalwaysfights said:

This is only true at your bigger schools.  Most 1A, 2A, and 3A schools carry freshmen through seniors on their varsity rosters. 

Also, to think that most staffs aren't going to fight for at least JV games (even if only a couple) is fantasy.  Those reps are seen by most small schools as crucial (and they are). You would even see a push for a Jr. H8gh season in most cases.

But what folks 'want and 'push for' isnt relevant this year.   There will be no 8th grade football.    There will be no freshman football. There will be no JV football.  

The testing and protocols will be difficult enough with the varsity.  You dont need to multiply all the tests and precautions and sanitation and transportation concerns by 4.  

..and in the 20 games in 9 month scenario, you dont want 8th grade, freshman and JV football in the spring. 

 

Again, we're back to the risk and liability. For this year (spring of '21), there will be nothing but varsity football.  Its not a choice. 

It doesn't matter what you and I want.   This is a crisis solution....being done for the older boys so they wont miss their one chance to play and compete. 

With the virus risk, especially in the Indy area, I think spring football in the answer.

 

[wabashalwaysfights]

1 hour ago, oldunclemark said:

But what folks 'want and 'push for' isnt relevant this year.   There will be no 8th grade football.    There will be no freshman football. There will be no JV football.  

The testing and protocols will be difficult enough with the varsity.  You dont need to multiply all the tests and precautions and sanitation and transportation concerns by 4.  

..and in the 20 games in 9 month scenario, you dont want 8th grade, freshman and JV football in the spring. 

 

Again, we're back to the risk and liability. For this year (spring of '21), there will be nothing but varsity football.  Its not a choice. 

It doesn't matter what you and I want.   This is a crisis solution....being done for the older boys so they wont miss their one chance to play and compete. 

With the virus risk, especially in the Indy area, I think spring football in the answer.

 

All well and good, but you initial point that it would just be this years current Junior class that gets "double hit" is still incorrect. Even accepting your premise that JV and Freshman games would not be allowed, which I still find hard to believe that they wouldn't, those freshmen and sophomores will still practice and will still see in some cases significant Varsity playing time at the 1A, 2A, and 3A levels. Freshmen maybe less depending on roster size, but still, even with your suggestion there are still at least 3 classes, freshmen through juniors, who would play in the Spring and Fall of 2021.

[oldunclemark]

On 7/13/2020 at 8:09 AM, wabashalwaysfights said:

All well and good, but you initial point that it would just be this years current Junior class that gets "double hit" is still incorrect. Even accepting your premise that JV and Freshman games would not be allowed, which I still find hard to believe that they wouldn't, those freshmen and sophomores will still practice and will still see in some cases significant Varsity playing time at the 1A, 2A, and 3A levels. Freshmen maybe less depending on roster size, but still, even with your suggestion there are still at least 3 classes, freshmen through juniors, who would play in the Spring and Fall of 2021.

Im in NW Indiana so I dont see Class 1A football...but few 3A and  4A, (and almost no 5A or 6A) teams up here use freshmen on the varsity at any time. 1A and 2A public schools would have to but you cant risk no football for the Class of 2021 (opening and closing (a shutdown) the next few weeks) because an alternative is TOO MUCH football.

In my proposal, there would be no spring freshman or JV football in small part, BECAUSE you didn't want boys playing 20 games in 9 months.  The virus is the main reason but I agree you dont want boys playing 20 games in 40 weeks .

So no 8th grade fotOball. No freshman foOtball. No JV football. None of those boys are graduating next June. They'll get another chance to play.

Those freshman (Class of '24) or sophomore (Class of '23) boys could practice with the football team or they could play baseball or run track.

 

And lets be blunt. Cancelling the season after it begins means boys dont play ANY games in this school year.   I'd rather have boys worry about playing TOO MANY games than losing an entire season.

This isnt a proposal for what would be best for all concerned. This is a 'Plan B', something short of a worst case scenario.

Up here (NW Indiana) Portage and Boone Grove have already shut down athletic workouts indefinetly.  So what I'm suggesting may not be open to negotiation. Again, It does not matter what you and I want.

It may be spring football or nothing.

[RegionFBFan]

The only reason there would possibly be Spring football is the IHSAA and schools  needs the revenue from football to fund all sports. You can talk all you want about player safety and number of games and yada, yada, yada.  It's usually comes down to the almighty dollar!!

[oldunclemark]

27 minutes ago, RegionFBFan said:

The only reason there would possibly be Spring football is the IHSAA and schools  needs the revenue from football to fund all sports. You can talk all you want about player safety and number of games and yada, yada, yada.  It's usually comes down to the almighty dollar!!

Hold on RFB:

Dont forget. The football dollar supports other sports. 

We may have a vaccine by spring. 

It makes a ton of  sense to play football in March with a vaccine than to play it in August without one.'

That's called played safety.

And there is a second reason to play. So boys who have waited all their lives to get to the varsity can play varsity football.

That's part of high school.  That's why were here.

[RegionFBFan]

I want football as bad as anyone. I want it this Fall though. Uncle Mark you are citing all these other reasons to have it in the Fall other than the most important which is Money. I agree and stated football pays for all other sports. I get it but just don't lose sight of this as the main reason.

In regards to vaccination, I wouldn't hold your breathe on it being approved, manufactured, distributed and injected in time for Spring football. 

[wabashalwaysfights]

Guys, if we are bringing honest there is next to zero chance of having a viable vaccine by this coming spring. If we play football at all this school year, we play with the spectre of Covid. Period.

@oldunclemark, I completely understand your premise and kind of figured that your primary exposure had been with larger schools. I get it, but the fact of the matter is that if you say to small schools that only juniors and seniors can play in the spring of 2021, you have no football at the 1A and 2A level. It just can't happen. No Jr. High ball can be handled, we didn't have a Jr. High team for a bit and we remain competitive at the Varsity level. If bigger schools wanted to limit underclassman participation in the manner you describe,  more power to them, but for the IHSAA to mandate that would be... not good...

[RegionFBFan]

23 minutes ago, wabashalwaysfights said:

Guys, if we are bringing honest there is next to zero chance of having a viable vaccine by this coming spring. If we play football at all this school year, we play with the spectre of Covid. Period.

Total agreement.

[oldunclemark]

51 minutes ago, RegionFBFan said:

I want football as bad as anyone. I want it this Fall though. Uncle Mark you are citing all these other reasons to have it in the Fall other than the most important which is Money. I agree and stated football pays for all other sports. I get it but just don't lose sight of this as the main reason.

In regards to vaccination, I wouldn't hold your breathe on it being approved, manufactured, distributed and injected in time for Spring football. 

What I'm saying is that money isnt an evil motive. Football money helps pay for other sports. 

And I know you know high school coaches and, to them,, its not about the money. Its about the boys playing their senior year.

I also wouldnt try to predict the future on when a vaccine or treatment or cure will come....We are in wildly uncharterted territory.  In would say there is far more chance of a medical solution in 6  months than there is in 6 weeks, OK?

 

[oldunclemark]

47 minutes ago, wabashalwaysfights said:

Guys, if we are bringing honest there is next to zero chance of having a viable vaccine by this coming spring. If we play football at all this school year, we play with the spectre of Covid. Period.

@oldunclemark, I completely understand your premise and kind of figured that your primary exposure had been with larger schools. I get it, but the fact of the matter is that if you say to small schools that only juniors and seniors can play in the spring of 2021, you have no football at the 1A and 2A level. It just can't happen. No Jr. High ball can be handled, we didn't have a Jr. High team for a bit and we remain competitive at the Varsity level. If bigger schools wanted to limit underclassman participation in the manner you describe,  more power to them, but for the IHSAA to mandate that would be... not good...

No. Not what I'm saying.  Freshman and sophomores most surely can play at 1A and 2A schools as needed. Nobody will be denied a chance to play varsity if they are good enough.

3A, 4A, 5A and 6A teams can load up the varsity with freshmen and sophomores if they want to so young boys can get the Friday experience....

But they will be denied a chance to play freshman or JV ball.....because 2021 spring ball is just for the varsity...for the seniors (who have only one more year remaining), and for that dirty money. 

 

This is an emergency solution for one year. but, to your comment, I agree we will live our entire lives in the 'spectre of Covid' .   I highly doubt that I'll live long enough to see us go back to 'normal' 

We are entering a series of 'new normals'.  What I'm suggesting is just the first one.

[Coach Nowlin]

As long as the games are on Saturdays, right @oldunclemark  🤣  

[Lysander]

Just bear in mind that baseball isn’t the only alternative Spring sport you are contending with.  Most every school is also going to have track.  Many other schools are also going to have golf, lacrosse and rugby.  

I played football both ways in HS but if had been forced to make a choice between track and football, I’d have chosen track.  Not because I liked running in circles until I puked vs playing football but because running in circles paid for my college....something football wasn’t going to do.

Not to mention the point @Temptation made earlier about underclassmen would basically be playing continuous football from literally January through the end of November in the case of teams that would make deep runs.  That’s 11 straight months of football for underclassmen.

I think spring is problematic.