On the same day the NJSIAA introduced its COVID-19 Medical Advisory Task Force, Mainland athletic director Mike Gatley was pitching a radical, reshaping idea for the high school fall sports season to his Cape-Atlantic League colleagues.
Gatley and the NJSIAA task force have the same goal -- restarting interscholastic athletics this coming fall for the 2020-21 academic year. It will be up to the governor, the department of health and department of education agree to open New Jersey schools either for in-person or virtual teaching in September, before the fate of fall sports is decided.
“There is a growing belief in South Jersey there isn’t going to be a fall season,” Gatley said, despite the task force’s stated desire. “When they develop a vaccine, then we have a solution. They say January (for a vaccine), but it could just as easily be next June.
“The biggest problems facing us now are the unknown and time. As every day clicks off, we have one less day knowing what is going on with high school sports.”
Instead of asking for direction, Gatley believes New Jersey athletic directors should be drafting the re-opening roadmap.
Sports re-start guidelines issued last week by the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) included a categorization of sports based on their risk of spreading respiratory droplets, the most common form of virus transmission, according to the CDC.
Gatley suggests a one-year reorganization of sports seasons based on each sport’s risk level.
Play the sports with low and moderate risk level - for example, cross-country, track and field, golf, tennis, baseball and softball - in the fall, when social distancing requirements are likely to still be at their most strict. Play moderate-risk sports in the winter and the higher-risk sports - like football, wrestling and boys lacrosse - in the spring, matching risk level to what will likely be loosening social-distancing requirements and rising prospects of a vaccine or treatments for COVID-19.
A complete list of HFHS risk ratings by sport can be found below. Gatley’s full list of sports by season is also below, and his seasons don’t match the NFHS’s risk categories sport for sport.
Gatley hopes the idea could be enough to convince decision-makers in Trenton and Robbinsville to give high school athletics a green light, if and when school is back in session.
“One of the major concerns is the spread of coronavirus through physical contact,” Gatley said. “So why not move the sports with the most contact (football, soccer, field hockey) to the spring when there is better chance of having a vaccine?”
Gatley is doing more than thinking outside the box. He’s turning it upside down and shaking it like a can of paint.
“The recommendations of NFHS and the CDC are becoming more consistent,” Gatley said. “We can mitigate, we can do what we need to do if we are willing.
“We are already on the verge of losing he higher risk sports (football and wrestling). Not only are sports like golf, tennis and track lower risk for infection, they also create fewer issues regarding building usage. Those sports don’t need a locker room. Plus, those kids who played spring sports all have valid physicals. Virtual physicals are not the answer given how little we know about this virus.”
Gatley noted the changes would not be easy, especially for athletic directors, who have their fall schedules already in place. Basketball, tennis and track and field may need to alternate practice days. There will almost certainly be a reduction in the number of contests regardless of what sports are in what season. The theory is fewer games will mean fewer chances of exposure to COVID-19.
“My boys and girls tennis teams would have to share the court, so they wouldn’t practice every day,” Gatley said. “Which is the lesser evil, not having a season or sharing a court?”
While the Gatley model gained traction throughout the week, it does not have statewide appeal, and reaction is mixed.
“It would take a ton of work to put the kids in a position to succeed,” said Ken Mason, the athletic director for West Windsor-Plainsboro North and South. “As long as we are emphasizing safety first, we could be creative with scheduling and field use.
“As an athletic administrator you deal with adversity anyway,” Mason said. “If our goal is really to get the kids back out on the fields then we need to think outside the box. I think all the Mercer County athletic directors and principals would say the same thing.”
“None of us know what our classrooms are going to look like in the fall and that will dictate what kind of fall sports season we have,” added Lawrence athletic director Gregg Zenerovitz. “We need to explore different avenues so we can get the kids and the coaches back on the field.”
Football, of course, provides the biggest challenges of any interscholastic sport. Along with having the most contact, the NFHS guidelines suggest limiting the size of practice groups and daily sanitizing of personal and team equipment.
“Right now, we can’t even have 11 guys in a huddle,” Gatley said. “If social distancing is an issue, football could be seven-on-seven in the spring. I know it wouldn’t be perfect, but I think every football coach would rather have something in the spring than nothing in the fall.”
“Football clearly creates the most problems,” Mason said. “I don’t see kids wearing a mask under a helmet. To be honest, I think playing football and both soccers in the fall just doesn’t look good at this point.”
“I don’t like flipping seasons,” said Marlboro athletic director Dave Ryden. “There are too many moving parts.”
“I’ve heard this plan before and I haven’t completely wrapped my head around it,” said Westwood athletic director Dan Vivino. “I think there would be issues with facilities, but those would be minor concerns and we need to look at the big picture.
“I think every athletic director is working on every possible contingency plan,” Vivino added.
“My fear would be moving baseball and softball to the fall and then the fall season gets canceled, anyway,” said Kinnelon athletic director Scott Rosenberg. “If that happened, we would need to pivot and give those spring sports priority. Baseball and softball need to play one season before football and soccer play two.”
Gatley and Rosenberg are adamant about athletic directors having input into decision making before having the fall sports season dictated to them.
“The NJSIAA is not going to put itself in a position of liability,” said Rosenberg, who admits he is critical of the association. “You can be damn sure when the new guidelines come out, they will follow the NFHS plan. The task force of medical people have never gone against the recommendations of the NFHS. I really wonder why they are meeting.
“We can’t sit back. We need to be proactive,” Rosenberg added. “There could be jobs on the line based on what the NJSIAA decides. If there are no fall sports, do we need athletic trainers? We should have a plan, and a back-up plan, for the fall.”
“The athletes are the ones asking the questions and the popular response has become ‘I don’t know,” Zenerovitz said. “I’d like to be able to tell them something.”
Shuffling the seasons could result in hard decisions for student-athletes picking between sports they love. Some boys may have to choose between football and wrestling. Girls may have to pick either softball or field hockey.
“We need to get the kids back on the field so they can be seen by colleges and if that means we have to play modified or short seasons, so be it,” Gatley said. “This plan isn’t going to make every parent happy, but this may be the difference between playing and not playing and that’s what people have to think about.”
THE GATLEY PLAN
Sports by season
- Fall: Baseball, softball, boys cross country, girls cross country; boys tennis; girls tennis, boys outdoor track & field; girls outdoor track & field; boys golf; girls golf, boys or girls volleyball; crew.
- Winter: Boys basketball; girls basketball; boys swimming; girls swimming; boys or girls volleyball; fencing; ice hockey.
- Spring: Football; boys soccer; girls soccer; field hockey; boys lacrosse; girls lacrosse; wrestling.
NFHS RISK CATEGORIES
Higher: Sports that involve close, sustained contact between participants, lack of significant protective barriers, and high probability that respiratory particles will be transmitted between participants.
- Examples: Wrestling, football, boys lacrosse, competitive cheer, dance.
Moderate: Sports that involve close, sustained contact, but with protective equipment in place that may reduce the likelihood of respiratory particle transmission between participants OR intermittent close contact OR group sports OR sports that use equipment that can’t be cleaned between participants.
- Examples: Basketball, volleyball*, baseball*, softball*, soccer, water polo, gymnastics* (if equipment can’t be sufficiently cleaned between competitors), ice hockey, field hockey, tennis*, swimming relays, pole vault*, high jump*, long jump*, girls lacrosse, crew with two or more rowers in shell, 7 on 7 football
- *Could potentially be considered “Lower Risk” with appropriate cleaning of equipment and use of masks by participants Lower Risk: Sports that can be done with social distancing or individually with no sharing.
Lower: Sports that can be done with social distancing or individually with no sharing of equipment or the ability to clean the equipment between use by competitors.
- Examples: Individual running events, throwing events (javelin, shot put, discus), individual swimming, golf, weightlifting, alpine skiing, sideline cheer, single sculling, cross country running (with staggered starts).
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Joe Zedalis may be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephzedalis. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.
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