St. Joseph-Ogden is making the most of contact days
By FRED KRONER
As Shawn Skinner looks at the landscape for teen-aged athletes, he sees a skewed picture.
For the St. Joseph-Ogden High School football coach, it goes beyond the fact that neighboring states – and the majority of states in the country – are participating in their high school fall sports in the same manner in which they have been accustomed to for decades.
That is a part of the inequity, but it’s related to a bigger issue.
Because other states are allowing high school athletes to compete, they are also more open with travel-team tournaments and AAU competitions.
Therein lies the root of a problem that directly affects families throughout Illinois, including St. Joseph-Ogden.
“We have students in baseball, softball, volleyball, wrestling and basketball leave this state every weekend and go compete in those sports in other states against athletes from all over,” Skinner said. “Georgia, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee and Ohio are some of the states that I know students from SJ-O have gone and participated in these sports since August.
“Now when you think about students from all the schools and towns in Illinois that have been doing that, where is the logic in that? We have had students who have missed school time because they came into close contact with positive COVID cases due to going and playing sports outside of the state. It seems to me by not having a modified fall sports season for all sports, we have actually encouraged and allowed for a much riskier situation.
“If we had allowed all fall sports to play, we should have protocols in place to allow schools to question and trace student-athletes and if there are positive cases or close contacts, either they miss games or the teams must shut down for a period of time.”
Skinner recognizes that states throughout the nation are in uncharted territory, but he believes there are more benefits than pitfalls to allowing sports to continue at the high school level in Illinois on a closely monitored basis.
“This is a new reality and those are the consequences that could happen with such cases,” he said. “But I think having the motivation of playing games encourages healthier and safer practices for the student athletes AND their families.
“With the opportunity to play games at home and for your school, it incentivizes you to make better choices. We have totally failed to embrace and encourage that.
“Instead, people seek and find alternatives in other states and compete against a mass amount of kids and risk exposure at a higher rate.
“Then those students and families return and are exposing the people they are around, if we are to believe what we are told. It seems to me it would have been safer and much more logical to allow competition in a local area or bubble and enforce best practices and protocols when it comes to reporting symptoms and exposure.”
Skinner emphasized that he is not downplaying the significance of the coronavirus, which has been attributed to more than 220,000 deaths nationwide since March.
“I am very cognizant of the situation we are in,” Skinner said. “I believe that this is a serious virus and a serious time, and we need to do our due diligence as far as being safe and following guidelines and protocols.
“With that being said, if it’s safe to go to school, if it’s safe to play junior high sports and youth sports, then we should be playing the high school sports. We should be incentivizing and encouraging best practices as opposed to how our state leaders have decided to handle our situation.
“We have shown the ability to ‘shut it down’ when needed. We can and will do it again should that be what is the right thing to do. But the people in this state deserve better than what has been demonstrated to them thus far when it comes to high school athletics.
“I believe this fall has been a colossal waste of time and resources for school districts, parents, coaches and players. As I watch other states compete successfully and we have sat idly, I hope we don’t regret this in the coming months. We could have utilized this time in August, September and October to get SOMETHING for our student athletes to have.”
Skinner sees an irony to the inability for many athletes in the state to practice and play during the pandemic.
“The relationships and experiences they are missing are some of the very foundations that they need to make it through the tough times that we experience,” Skinner added. “I hurt for all the student-athletes missing time from their favorite sports, teammates and coaches.
“I hope we can get back to giving our kids a chance to compete ASAP.”
Skinner and other coaches at SJ-O have not been totally inactive the past two months. They have taken advantage of an IHSA decision that has allowed up to 20 “contact days,” between Sept. 7 and Oct. 31.
Coaches of athletic teams that were not permitted to compete this fall have been able to work with and train their athletes on a limited basis, much like had been the case previously during the summer.
The SJ-O football team has been working out from 5:45-7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays with a special gathering on Fridays “from 6-8:30 under the Friday Night lights,” Skinner said.
The coach has had between 40 and 53 players participate.
“We are trying to utilize the time as much as possible to teach not only fundamental skill sets, but also the specific plays and philosophies of our offense, defense and special teams,” Skinner said. “Wednesday nights have a focus on offense and Friday we focus on special teams and defense.”
Students at SJ-O are in attendance for classes every other day. When they are already at the building, they also participate in strength training.
“On the days that the student-athletes attend school, they lift in our weight room and then all of the players do a speed workout – outside on the track – on Fridays. A typical week for our kids sees them in the weight room either Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday; speed workouts on Friday; and practice on Wednesday and Friday.”
A significant number of Spartan athletes are juggling contact days with other sports as well.
“Our kids have done that in addition to coming and doing baseball, track and basketball workouts if they play multiple sports,” Skinner said. “I think our coaches and teams have done a great job of being understanding of kids having other sports they may have the occasional scheduling conflict with.”
SJ-O will use 16 of its allotted 20 contact days.
“We feel it’s been very valuable to get something accomplished by getting together with the team,” Skinner said. “This really has afforded us the ability to replicate snaps and get some teaching done that we hope can be used in the spring.”
Currently, football is scheduled to start with practices on Feb. 15 and with a seven-game regular season that can begin on March 1.
That timeline could mean removing snow from the field before a practice can begin. Skinner, however, is taking a positive approach.
“I am not sure what to think about the grounds, weather and conditions for the spring,” he said. “I can say after two decades of coaching softball in the spring, Illinois in March and April is sometimes a much better climate for football than baseball.
“You can’t predict the weather, so I am not really worried about that at this time. We have to be light on our feet and be capable and willing to embrace change at a moment’s notice. Some of the ‘best practices’ and ‘ideal conditions’ that we know and would prefer to have are no longer viable.
“All I want is the chance to let our kids compete in the safest capacity as we can make it. I think we have shown we are able to adjust to any new standards and protocols placed before us. I anticipate being given the opportunity to let our kids have a season in the capacity and schedule that has been outlined for us, and we will plan accordingly.”
The boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches and boys’ soccer coaches at SJ-O have also been using contact days.
Boys’ basketball head coach Kiel Duval tries to find a balance for the teen-agers.
“We have tried to split time with football and baseball, and make sure the kids have plenty of time for their school work, too,” Duval said. “This is tough on them, too.
“For the three-sport athletes, this is very much like summer where they have multiple sport activities that they are participating in.”
Duval said his players recognize the importance of the contact days.
“They understand we missed an entire summer of basketball, so we have some catching up to do,” Duval said. “I am optimistic we will start, but I think the restrictions will be tough.
“I know the IHSA has talked about masks during competitions. Our guys are all wearing masks during workouts and I know we are giving many more water breaks than we ever did before. It is tough, but we have continually reminded our kids that going through these tough times will only make you better.
“There will be teams or programs that will come out of this situation better because they put all excuses aside and did whatever it takes to get better. We just hope that is us.”
It hasn’t been difficult to get the student-athletes on board with the workouts.
“I really think some of them are looking to do anything right now, after the spring they had last year,” Duval said. “We have not had any kids opt out of contact days, and all of them have approached things the right way.”
Spartan soccer coach Bill DeJarnette said an average of 17 players have participated in contact days. The time together is significant as he returns to the program this school year as head coach.
“Contact days have been awesome,” DeJarnette said. “This has given us a chance to focus on basics and then use those building blocks to support movement.
“Without the worry of imminent games (on the schedule) we can spend more time on theory, so instead of just doing, we work on the underlying why which creates better situational adaptation. Even with the issues, the players have been incredibly focused and we couldn’t ask for better commitment.”
SJ-O girls’ basketball coach Kevin Taylor expects to use about 14 of his contact days.
“With the restrictions and having to wear masks, we have cut back on a lot of the normal things we do, but at the same time we have tried to use this time wisely,” Taylor said. “We won’t be in shape heading into the season, but hopefully we will be sharp with fundamentals and plays.
“As far as the season goes, I sure hope we have one. I’m not going to play a guessing game, but I’m planning on having a season this winter. We will have to adjust to the restrictions I’m sure we will be under, but hopefully we will get to play.”
SJ-O wrestling coach Richard Vetter decided against utilizing any contact days. He believes his squad members are still getting what they need as far as conditioning.
“Our wrestling program numbers are on the low end and most of my kids play other sports,” Vetter said. “With that being said, I have not used any of the contact days because they are working out with either baseball or football right now.
“I don’t really have a problem with it either, as I don’t think wrestling will happen until the new IHSA summer season, if at all. I also don’t have a problem with it because we are very limited on what we are legally allowed to do for the sport of wrestling.
“As long as the kids are lifting and conditioning, I am good with it, until we are allowed to have contact.”
