Wolverine Sports to begin this week
The 2020-21 Holdenville High School sports season begin this week when the softball team travels to McAlester for their season opener followed by a home game with Valiant on Tuesday and a road game with perennial rival, Weowka, on Thursday. The Wolverines have been working out since mid July and are primed and ready to begin the 2020 season.
The Wolverine football team began their pre-season workouts Monday morning. The football team has had a record number of athletes in the weight room this summer and the players and coaching staff are eager to begin the 2020 fall campaign.
Sports and the pandemic
The entire sport's world has been shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NBA has the best solution. The Thunder and their opponents have been isolated in Orlando with a strict rule about no one being allowed to enter or leave the complex until the games have been completed. There were a couple of incidents where younger players broke the rule and were quickly isolated and criticized by not only the league hierarchy butalsobytheplayers' association. Each individual player stands to lose a substantial amount of money if the games are not played.
The Saint Louis Cardinals learned a valuable lesson when some of their players failed to comply with league rules concerning the pandemic. The players reportedly visitedsomeofthelocal night spots and failed to wear masks. The result of the carelessness was a number of the players testing positive and the cancellation of 20 games. The loss of 20 games is a significant loss of revenue and therefore Major League Baseball has issued a warning that any player or coach who fails to wear a mask at the appropriate time will be suspended for the remainder of the season.
The Oklahoma Coach's Association All-State games took place as scheduled at the end of July with most of the fans and participants opting to forego any type of face mask. Fortunately none of the participants or fans have reported any problems. The All-State games may be the exception. The Wolverine softball team has not been able to have a preseason scrimmage because every scrimmage was cancelled because of something related to Covid-19. The Wolverines have all been healthy but potential scrimmage opponents have had problems. The team was suppose to travel to Stuart last Friday but one of the Hornet players reportedly had tested positive so the Wolverines last chance to conduct a preseason scrimmage was foiled by Covid.
The superintendent of Putnam City Public Schools has reportedly announced that he is recommending that the three high schools in his district restrict their games to participants only. The reaction of the participants parents have been nothing less than brutal.
Senior Night may be early
The senior night activities that traditionally take place at the last home game of the year may look different for the Wolverine Softball team. Holdenville Head Coach, Sarah Morgan, is contemplating moving the senior night activities to early in the season. This will assure the 2021 seniors receive the traditional honor bestowed on the veteran players.
The seniors who participated in the 2020 spring sports failed to receive the traditional senior night honors when the seasons were cancelled in early April.
Lots of What Ifs!
What if the Wolverine Softball team finds out that a player on one the opponent's team tests positive a few days after the game?
What if the Football Wolverines play a game on Friday night and find out that one of the members of opposing team tests positive the next week. The question becomes does the team quarantine and miss the next week's game or possibly the next two games.
Does the team forfeit the games they miss? If so, when do they make up the game(s).
There's lots of What ifs when it comes to this year's sport's season. Lots of things could happen.
Coaches across the state have encouraged everyone to use caution around the athletes and be conscience of the CDC protocols. One positive tested athlete could disrupt the sports season for multiple schools.
