OhioTennisZone.com Interview
MONDAY, APRIL
This Is Why We Need High School Tennis This Spring
What matters to everything is that football be played this fall. Ohio high school tennis could help pave the way to make this to happen.
Here are some ground rules as you read this document: 1) Do not mix POST-COVID-19 thinking with PRE-COVID-19 rules and thinking. There is now only POST-COVID-19 thinking. 2) What is done for this season does not necessarily create a precedence going forward for anything else. It may create some great new ideas but those ideas need to be tabled and reviewed later. 3) And finally, some schools, some players, and some coaches will be left behind because of their particular situations. That's ok.
Let's get the big one out of the way first.
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Time to open this up @ UA Courts - Click to enlarge |
1. The statement, "Buildings need to be open and students need to physically be in classrooms before sports can be played.", is a fallacy. This is pure PRE-COVID-19 thinking. COVID-19 is not a snow storm where conditions were too bad to attend school on Friday morning, but sports enthusiasts still wanted to play that night's basketball game. Students *are* in school. If they were not, then PRE-COVID-19 rules and thinking would prevent all of the students from advancing to the next grade level. In some communities it may be entirely appropriate to open a school building for students for learning, but this is probably not the case for most communities. Again, do not mix PRE- and POST-COVID-19 thinking.
2. The "building" does not need to be open, but it may be necessary to lease a porta john. Many facilities already have restrooms available without opening the entire school. Plus, tennis players can arrive at their practices and matches "ready to play" because no dressing room is necessary. Think about it -- how often is an entire school building open for any sporting event?
3. It may not be appropriate for *all* of the athletes to participate and that is ok. Do not shut down an entire sport because of a low percentage of players who cannot play. Some players may be cared for by their grandparents or by parents who are in high-risk categories. *Any* risk may be unacceptable for them. Families should do what is best for them.
4. The virus is fragile and cannot tolerate outdoor conditions such as ultra-violet light and wind. The social distancing requirements have not been reconsidered for outdoor activities even though it is common sense that they should be. Fair weather states are faring among the best. California, Florida, Arizona, and Hawaii have 1,180, 774, 184, and 10 deaths, respectively. States where people are cooped up and death totals are high include: New York (18,298) and New Jersey (4,362). (These numbers are as of April 20, 2020.) This may be the first and only time when Hilliard Davidson is a perfect location for the state tennis tournament. (Hilliard Davidson is a wind tunnel.)
5. The virus cannot infect via skin contact alone. It requires that people touch their faces with their hands. Using hand sanitizers and washing hands are the great ways to protect against the virus. To be extra safe, players could be assigned their own two balls and only handle and serve with those two balls. Many scheduled matches will not be played so there are an ample number of balls already in coaches' inventories.
6. Tennis matches are not packed with spectators. Who knew that this would ever be a benefit for high school tennis? Social distancing is not even a remote problem. Plus, fans and those players not competing could be asked to wear masks. In some cases, fans can watch matches from their vehicles.
7. Transportation will be an issue but it is not insurmountable. All players can walk, ride bikes, or drive cars to their school. For "away" matches, bus riders can open the windows and spread out. In some cases, several vehicles may need to be taken and older coaches may need to ride separate from the team. For some schools, parents are already responsible for getting their players to all events (for home and away matches) so this is not even an issue. Again, masks may be required for all riders.
8. Most players, fans, and coaches will want to start hitting balls on May 4. (OTZ is in this camp.) Understand that some players, parents, and coaches will have reasons not to play. Everyone needs to evaluate their own risk / reward ratio.
9. While all of the outdoor spring sports are infinitely better in social distancing than the indoor winter sports (i.e. wrestling), tennis carries the least amount of risk of any of the spring sports because it is ideal for social distancing. Likewise, some of the track and field events (i.e. shot put, long jump) are also well suited. Are the other spring sports sports "safe"? Is tennis "safe"? No one really knows. Tennis teams are small and there is no player contact. This also is not just about sports -- anything inside that can be moved outside (i.e. choir practice) should be considered for restarting.
OHSAA needs tennis to enable them to experiment with new rules and compliance issues associated with restarting sports. For example, will fans wear masks if asked? Will all players put a container of hand sanitizer in their pockets for frequent use? Should fans and competitors be "temperature checked" prior to any event? If so, how long will it take to obtain temperature readings and how should it be done?
It was a hard decision for Governor DeWine to say "no" and shut down the Arnold Classic but it was the right decision. It will be an equally difficult decision to say "yes", but outdoor spring tennis may offer the right level of risk to slowly crack open the door, especially since tennis is not played in all Ohio high schools. This is an opportunity for Ohio to innovatively lead the way and show the rest of the nation how sports can safely restart.
If you care about football, tennis is how we get to football this fall.
Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Gradually. Methodically. Carefully.
