The Upcoming Season WAYGD?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Boys and girls cross country. Staggered starts and finishes to maintain social distancing.

Distancing? In the amount of air on a cross country course?!

Girls swimming (girls swimming in fall, boys swimming in winter, in Connecticut). "Virtual" meets. Teams swim in their home pools and compare times after the "virtual" meet.

When you're that wet, no chance of transmitting a respiratory virus. Except on the backstroke, your face is getting washed every stroke. Swimming in marked lanes is as much distancing as they impose at the supermarket.

Besides all that, if we could get children to spread the virus (and therefore immunity to it) around faster, they'd be doing society a favor. It's counterproductive to isolate any but persons with risk conditions for severe disease. Social distancing just prolongs the pandemic.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

... It's counterproductive to isolate any but persons with risk conditions for severe disease. Social distancing just prolongs the pandemic.

Some people prefer a vaccine or prophylactic in place before getting exposed. Other folks live or consistently interact with people in at-risk categories.

And shockingly, there are lots and lots of people who are in at-risk categories who like to be employed and earn a living in safe working conditions.

The biggest hindrance and consideration for me returning to the court this winter is whether or not wife is comfortable with me doing so and coming home to her every night. If the basketball season started tomorrow, I can tell you right now I'd be living in a separate bedroom, eating dinner from across the dining room table, and practicing celibacy.



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[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Distancing? In the amount of air on a cross country course? ... When you're that wet, no chance of transmitting a respiratory virus. Except on the backstroke, your face is getting washed every stroke. Swimming in marked lanes is as much distancing as they impose at the supermarket ...

While I grant you that these restrictions are mostly for show (like King Canute trying to stop the tide), these restrictions can't hurt.

I've attended a lot cross country meets (my son ran in high school and college). The start of a multi-team meets looks like a herd of bison, often with dozens, or even a hundred, runners packed together at the starting line. Runners often draft behind other runners in a very narrow course and could be running through the previous runners exhaled air, and cross country runners are known for constantly spitting (in high school my son's team wore T-shirts warning of such). In races with no timing chips, finishers are "herded" into chutes for proper scoring (while still heavily breathing, catching their breath).

Swimmers don't wear masks as shoppers in a grocery store do. While I'm pretty sure that, while in the water, swimmers would be pretty safe, the problem would be all the milling around on the pool deck (as anyone whose been at an indoor pool knows, ventilation often isn't great) between heats and events, and using the locker rooms to change out of wet suits. Virtual meets also take the bus ride out of the equation.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

... if we could get children to spread the virus (and therefore immunity to it) around faster, they'd be doing society a favor. It's counterproductive to isolate any but persons with risk conditions for severe disease. Social distancing just prolongs the pandemic.

And just how is that herd immunity approach working for Sweden?

https://news.yahoo.com/sweden-used-c...171500455.html

https://news.yahoo.com/why-a-herd-im...153057073.html

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

And just how is that herd immunity approach working for Sweden?

https://news.yahoo.com/sweden-used-c...171500455.html

Working as good as what we've done here (according to Johns Hopkins...same deaths per capita). The real picture will only become know once this all ends. Perhaps they reach the end sooner (that is their theory) and they'll look like geniuses...but maybe not. You can't know how it will turn out in the end until we're there.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

The real picture will only become know once this all ends. Perhaps they reach the end sooner ... and they'll look like geniuses ...but maybe not. You can't know how it will turn out in the end until we're there.

Agree.



From my posted link:

But Sweden’s strategy didn’t entail a total return to normalcy. The Swedish government implemented a ban on gatherings of 50 people or more, and many Swedes voluntarily followed social distancing guidelines.

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb noted in an op-ed published on Aug. 30 that in addition to being much larger than Sweden (a country with a population the same size as North Carolina’s), the U.S. has a high rate of citizens with preexisting conditions, which can lead to a higher rate of COVID-19 complications; about 10 percent of Americans have diabetes, and 40 percent are considered obese.

Moreover, Sweden’s pursuit of natural herd immunity doesn’t appear to be working. A study released in June by the country’s Health Agency showed that only 6 percent of Swedes had developed antibodies to the coronavirus — though a recent study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital suggests that immunity in Sweden may be higher than antibody tests indicate.

“We’ve seen so far 185,000 Americans die of this coronavirus with 6 million people infected,” Kass continues. “If we want to intentionally infect another 126 million Americans, that means that over 1 million more Americans would die of this virus before we infected enough people to get to any possible natural herd immunity.”

“The bottom line is, will herd immunity be the answer to this coronavirus pandemic? And the answer will be yes — but not natural herd immunity. We will get to herd immunity hopefully with the development of a safe, effective vaccine,” Kass says.

“Until we have a safe and effective vaccine that is available to the hundreds of millions of Americans that still need to be exposed and recovered from this virus, we just need to continue to do the hard work, which means wear a mask, be socially distanced from people you don’t know, wash your hands multiple times a day and listen to the science.”

[bucky]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Boys and girls cross country. Staggered starts and finishes to maintain social distancing.

Huh? So I guess that means no passing either Once the race begins, runners will be near each other big time.

I get that it is outdoors and distancing can be normal during a race. But, what sport involves more heavy breathing and close proximity to other participants over all others? My guess is CC. Runners are gasping all over the place, expelling all kinds of respiratory fluids. Spitting has also been mentioned. Seems like a recipe for transmission. They have such ritualistic testing for pros, why do they not implement similar practices at the lower levels, such as NCAA/NFHS events? They do not need to do the exact, high-cost testing, but at least something. I envision trainers performing simple testing and oversight for all the athletes. Once cleared, allow full play. Schools perform such tests, although they are very basic and mostly consist of answering questions. I could see HS sports being done normally under these practices. Same goes for officials. Maybe once testing becomes super-easy this will happen.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Distancing? In the amount of air on a cross country course?!

Originally Posted by bucky

Huh? So I guess that means no passing either ... Once the race begins, runners will be near each other big time.

Although it will vary from race to race, staggered starts mean that runners will run within a group of "cohorts" (members of their own team/school), and then compare times at the end of the race.

Also, starting groups could be smaller, faster runners in one cohort, slower runners in another cohort, males in different cohorts than females.

Also a possibility that only the fastest runners (with a real chance of scoring) would race that day.

Many years ago, in most of my son's high school dual-meets, or tri-meets, every single runner (including some real stick-to-it-ness tortoises) on the the two, or three, teams would start at the same time, boys, girls, fast, slow.



With staggered starts, one walks the course, races, and is on the bus with the same people. Easier for contact tracing.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Runners often draft behind other runners in a very narrow course and could be running through the previous runners exhaled air, and cross country runners are known for constantly spitting (in high school my son's team wore T-shirts warning of such).

Originally Posted by bucky

... more heavy breathing and close proximity to other participants over all others? My guess is CC. Runners are gasping all over the place, expelling all kinds of respiratory fluids. Spitting has also been mentioned. Seems like a recipe for transmission.

I contacted my son and he reminded me what his high school warm up shirts said "XC - We Spit On Ourselves".

[BillyMac]

From the NFHS:

Pandemic Intensifies Need to Retain, Recruit Officials For High School Sports

In addition to the many new challenges for high school sports leaders this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified concerns regarding a longstanding issue – the shortage of high school sports officials.

At this time last year, we suggested that numerous veteran officials were retiring early, in large part, because of unruly behavior by parents. In some cases, officials were quitting before they even reached two years on the job – unwilling to take abuse from parents and other adult fans.

The 2017 survey of 17,000-plus officials by the National Association of Sports Officials (NAS0) supported our views about the effects of parents’ behavior. While 42 percent of respondents said they started officiating for the love of the game, only nine percent responded that way when asked why they continue to officiate.

Although our messages were beginning to be heard across the country, we believe the pandemic will be an additional wake-up call for parents and other fans. Surely, after the events of the past seven months, these individuals will be grateful for any opportunity to attend contests this year and positively support student participants.

While the NASO survey indicated that the level of poor sportsmanship was worse in competitive youth sports (36%) and adult recreational sports (21%) than high school sports (14%), now – more than ever before – we urge parents to let players play and officials officiate.

On the flip side, however, while the pandemic may help with gaining stronger support for officials from parents and other fans, it has created other challenges – from the uncertain status of high school sports in some states to individuals opting not to return to officiating because of health concerns.

With the average age of officials nationally at about 53 years and many officials in their 60s, some individuals have not returned this fall due to COVID-19 concerns. In South Carolina, for instance, more than 80 football officials opted out this year, causing some games to be moved to Thursday nights.

Although registration of officials is down in many other states, the numbers are expected to rise some when all sports are reinstated. State associations have encouraged numerous safety measures to protect officials, such as wearing of face masks and gloves, social distancing, suspension of handshakes and attending online preseason meetings.

In addition to retaining these incredible men and women currently serving as high school contest officials, recruiting new individuals to serve in this capacity is more urgent than ever.

Since 2017, the NFHS has been involved in a national campaign – #BecomeAnOfficial – to recruit and retain officials, and the program has achieved remarkable success. Now in its fourth year, more than 44,000 individuals have expressed interest in becoming an official and have contacted their state association to start the process.

In another silver lining to COVID-19, the interest in officiating is skyrocketing this year. In the first six weeks of the 2020-21 school year, almost 6,000 people have expressed interest in officiating high school sports and have signed up through the #BecomeAnOfficial website at highschoolofficials.com. At this rate, almost 30,000 potential new officials would be identified by the end of the year – almost double the number from two years ago.

In the past, we have targeted specific groups of individuals that might be interested in officiating, such as college intramural sports directors, police, firefighters, EMTs, high school teachers and currently high school coaches.

[BillyMac]

Connecticut high school officials were in short supply at the start of the fall sports season. Now the numbers are getting worse due to the pandemic ...

https://news.yahoo.com/high-school-o...035900990.html

I heard that my local board only has as few as six new applicants this year, in past years we often filled our training classes with about two dozen applicants.

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

In another silver lining to COVID-19, the interest in officiating is skyrocketing this year. In the first six weeks of the 2020-21 school year, almost 6,000 people have expressed interest in officiating high school sports and have signed up through the #BecomeAnOfficial website at highschoolofficials.com. At this rate, almost 30,000 potential new officials would be identified by the end of the year – almost double the number from two years ago.

Nothing like a moribund economy to spark interest in alternative revenue streams.

90% will quickly learn how awful our margins are. The other 10% might get hooked and stick around, which would be nice.


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[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Nothing like a moribund economy to spark interest in alternative revenue streams.

Same thing happened here in Connecticut during the Great Recession of 2008-09. We had to turn away many, many applicants from our local board, we were unprepared to train that large a number. Now we have alternative online training for those who want it for rulebook training. Floor training (mechanics) is still in person.

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by Stat-Man

I imagine the document may change between now and winter, but here are the important provisions for Michigan as of the moment:

There's three different categories of precautions:
Permitted - Completely voluntary.
Suggested - Best practices that should be followed, but not required
Mandated - Required. Officials unwilling or unable to do these cannot officiate.

From your list of items:
Electronic Whistles - Permitted
Masks/Shields - Suggested
Whistle Pouches - Not mentioned, presumably permitted.

Other items:
Permitted - Gloves.

Suggested - Temperature check on game days, BYO beverage, frequent use of hand sanitizer, sanitizing hands after inspecting/touching equipment.

Mandated

• Arrive dressed in uniform. Putting on the striped shirt after arrival on site is acceptable. Jackets are not required for pregame warmups.
• Arrive at a single location and time when possible. (aside: good luck with this)
• Physically distance during the pregame conference.
• No pregame handshakes, etc with other participants.
• No contact with players.
• Physically distancing during conferences with partners. If that's not possible, avoid direct face to face conversation.
• Only referee and head coaches attend pregame meeting at center circle. (Aside: With the center circle's 6' radius, this is a good idea)
• Only the referee meets with the table before the game.
• Officials will not handle basketballs. Players are to retrieve balls that get away from the court area. players will be instructed to leave the basketball on the floor where the next possession will be during timeouts.

Rule/Mechanic Changes:

• Players may use cloth face coverings without color restrictions.
• Players may wear gloves.
• Players may wear long sleeved shirts subject to existing color restrictions.
• Only the home score/timer are permitted at the table. All others are considered non-essential and must sit elsewhere.
• No jump balls. Visiting team starts the game with a throw-in at the division line with home team getting the next arrow. Overtimes use a coin toss to determine possession and arrow.
• Optionally (to be communicated with head coaches if using), Officials will not handle the ball for throw-ins. They will instruct players where the designated spot is (as appropriate) and that the five second count begins when the administering official backs away. For free throws, the lead stands at the end line under the basket and instructs the free-thrower that the count begins when the official back away,

Also, officials are not responsible for teams'/administration's adherence to social distancing, sanitizing, etc. That responsibility lies with coaches and school personnel as appropriate.

Finally, games cancelled due to COVID are deemed cancelled due to an act of God and not subject to a 10-day advance notice. Officials will not be subject to failure to fulfill a contract if they can't officiate because they've been diagnosed with COVID, or a confirmed case of COVID occurs with a team or facility which/where they are schedule to officiate

I will be shocked to see an actual basketball season happen in Michigan. Right now I hope we finish the girls swimming season and the girls don't end up like the boys did in March, getting cancelled the week of the meet. Golf and Tennis are finished. Cross Country is next week (regionals finish today), while football just finished round 1 of the post-season (5 more weeks left), and volleyball starts next week (three weeks). Swimming state meet is in 3 weeks as well.

The way Michigan is going, I would not be shocked to see events cancelled starting next week.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Mark, Jr., and I returned home from his college softball umpiring assignment in Florida early on the evening of Friday, March 13, 2019. We unloaded my van and then I went and filled up the tank. This afternoon I filled up the van: 7.5 months (215.2 mi) on 16.391 gal or 0.458 months per gal.

MTD, Sr.