‘It’s a no-go’: AZ border towns’ basketball season delayed

CHINLE

Winslow and Holbrook high schools have delayed their basketball seasons due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.

Both schools are taking precautions set up by the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Likewise, for all sports, the Arizona Interscholastic Association put forth mandates to ensure student-athletes’ safety, ranging from wearing masks to social distancing.

Winslow High had initially begun planning for basketball and other winter sports, going over the safety precautions, and arranging a game schedule.

However, last week the school posted a message on its Facebook page informing parents and students that all winter sports practices have been delayed.

Winslow’s assistant varsity boys’ basketball coach, Venton Nelson, said that the delay is due to the sudden increase of COVID-19 cases.

“Our numbers are just too high on Navajo County, so we’re on a hold until those numbers come down,” Nelson said. “Our official start date was the 9th of this month, but it’s a no-go.

“Our AD is supposed to be getting numbers weekly from the county, and depending on those numbers, we shall see when our official start date is going to be.”

Nelson said that, due to the spike in cases, their sports program is currently at Phase 1 again of the AIA reopening plan. While in Phase 1, the team cannot interact with one another except for coaches giving the students training instructions. Before the season was put on hold, they were at Phase 3, meaning they could play games albiet with COVID safety precautions.

Nelson hopes that the season is just delayed and not canceled as he wants to give his returning athletes, especially his seniors, one last shot at a memorable season.

“We do have some returning seniors this year, and we actually have six returning seniors from our varsity team, so it would definitely be a big blow to them if we didn’t have a season,” Nelson said. “…I think regardless of what’s going on, regardless of the pandemic, I do tell our kids to stay active, keep doing what you’re doing, and keep staying fit.”

At Holbrook, athletic director and varsity girls’ coach Gregory Perkins said that even though they are clear to start the season officially, they have decided to delay their basketball season by a week as a safety precaution due to the COVID spike.

As of right now there are no practices, but there is still open gym, though even then they are following all the prescribed safety precautions.

“So that will put us behind a little bit,” Perkins said. “But honestly, we don’t have any games scheduled — nobody has any games scheduled at the moment, at least they shouldn’t.”

For now Perkins can only instruct his team members separately before they can begin official pratices.

“We can work on conditioning and fundamentals,” Perkins said. “We can work on footwork, and we can work on shooting, but at this point, that’s all we can work on because of the situation we’re in with the pandemic.”

Typically, Perkins said he would be having his girls training hard for their first match by now. But since they have no matches and the season has been put on hold, he doesn’t work them as much since they have no idea when they will have the first game.

“When the time is right — and hopefully the time will be right at some point — then we’ll get back into it and proceed full steam ahead and approach it like a regular season,” Perkins said.

Both Perkins and Nelson said that their individual schools will follow all the precautions necessary for both school and athletics. From mask-wearing to social distancing, they will do all that they can to keep their students safe. As far as sports spectators, that is up to their own individual district depending on if crowds can attend.

“Bottom line is if it comes down to ‘You can play if there are no fans,’ as opposed to ‘If you allow fans then you can’t play,’ then it’s a pretty simple choice,” Perkins said. “We want the kids to play as safe as possible. It would be unfortunate if fans and parents can’t attend, but I think everyone would understand. It’s better to play without fans than it is not to play.”

Both coaches cited that their number one concern is student safety. They want their students and their families to remain safe. But they also understand how much their students love basketball and are working hard to give them a season, especially for their senior players.

“We’re going to do everything we can, everything that we can control we’ll control in hopes that we can have a season,” Perkins said.

Whether basketball or any other winter sports will be taking place at all is currently up in the air right now. With the number of COVID-19 cases rising in the Navajo Nation and Arizona, safety is the students’ priority. Despite this, the coaches are still hopeful to give their eager students a season for 2020, even if it’s a short one, as has been the case for this year’s fall sports season. Any and all sports updates will be on the school’s website and social media accounts.

“We expect to be really competitive again,” Perkins said. “We have a very strong team. I have a couple of outstanding seniors who have been working all summer, and all three years; they’re ready to go. Obviously, it is my hope that they will have a season. If they can have a season, they can show off their abilities and increase the chances of them getting a scholarship at the next level down the road … I think in a normal year, we’d have a strong team; in whatever way this year turns out, we’ll still have a strong team, and we just kind of hope we get the chance to prove to everyone else that we do have a strong team.”

Likewise, Nelson only wishes the best for his team as he waits to hear what comes next.

“I just pray that we can have a season because we have a lot to look forward to,” Nelson said. “We have six returning seniors that we would love to have them finish their high school career properly. If we do our part as far as masking up and washing our hands and social distancing, hopefully, we can bring the numbers down and have a season for these kids.”

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