The WPIAL supports the student athletes
North Catholic Boys basketball team celebrates its WPIAL 3A championship back on Feb.27, 2020.
This morning, WPIAL's executive director Amy Scheuneman held a press conference about the future of fall sports and all sports in general for the upcoming 2020-21 school year. Her conference just comes after the PIAA decided to delay the start of fall sports back on Friday due to what Gov. Wolf said about postponing fall sports until Jan.1. In the next a couple of weeks, the PIAA will work with Gov. Wolf and a true decision will be made of whether or not fall sports will really be played in the fall. It's no secret that Scheuneman wants fall sports to be played and she has done quite a bit of research to indicate of why athletes should play high school sports.
"The data has not shown a significant increase in adolescent athletes as recently reported by the Allegheny County Health Department [involving COVID-19] in regard to the cases perceived this past July," said Schueneman. "More importantly, what is not being calculated into this decision are the negative and adverse health risks involved with not allowing to continue under the established precautions and protocols."
Schueneman referred to health risks such as isolation, depression, anxiety, and obesity are factors if students do not go back to school and participate in sports. Schueneman expressed her ideas that fall sports such as golf and Girls Tennis should definitely be played due to the sport being played outdoors and the fact that socially distancing can definitely be practiced while playing those sports. With AAU teams and club programs are still going on throughout the entire country, it would definitely be noticed that Schueneman is frustrated that those events can still go on, but the WPIAL and PIAA fall sports might be postponed or perhaps canceled at a later date.
"While many recreation AAU, and club programs have already stated that they will ignore the governor's recommendations, the WPIAL is in favor of the PIAA's approach to get more clarity on what a strong recommendation actually means for schools legally if they choose to offer sports this fall," said Schueneman. We also support the continuation of sports under the establishment guidelines of these entities."
What's nice to know is that besides the WPIAL and PIAA is that state legislators support the student athletes in the PIAA. At the end of the day, all everyone wants to see is high school sports be played.
"I think they [the Pennsylvania state legislators] have a voice with the governor [Gov. Wolf]. We have local representatives here. Every district has someone they can reach out to. These conversations that I have had, they are supportive of sports and we ask them to make those conversations happen." said Schueneman.
Schueneman also believes that Gov. Wolf needs to rethink about his ideas of delaying fall sports as she would definitely like him to think in another point of view.
"My plead to Gov. Wolf is to reevaluate and see the importance of high school athletics as a whole to the student athletes, who are going to be the leaders and are the future of both our state and the country. So, we need to provide as much training and education as a lot of it comes with sports," said Schueneman.
The WPIAL knows that they will support whatever the PIAA decides and no matter what the result is, they will not question the PIAA's decision as they know the PIAA supports the WPIAL and the high school student athletes. When it comes to illness and sickness, it's going to be hard to stop COVID-19. Think about it, influenza and cancer have never gotten away, but everyone is still able to live with it. Schueneman knows that the virus is not going to end anytime soon, so she suggests people find a way to live with it.
Financial problems could also perhaps be a problem for the WPIAL if there is no high school sports season since there are many ways that they make money which can include making a profit off from the media or profiting from ticket sales. Under certain protocols, Schueneman said that all fall sports can be played under the rules and safety measures that have already been created. So, at the end of the day, everyone basically learned that the WPIAL and PIAA wants to have a sports season, but the only thing that can get in the way of the season is Gov. Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Maybe, this means war. Just know that if there are no high school sports at all during the school year or if the fall sports are postponed, it's not the PIAA and WPIAL's fault because they have the student athletes' backs.
Brentaro Yamane: bkyamane@gmail.com and Twitter/Instagram @BYHilton13