Officials in Michigan cleared high school basketball and ice hockey teams to return to play this week. Competitive cheer and wrestling can begin, too. So if you have the financial means and are ready to tap out of the bureaucracy of the state of Oregon, pack up and have at it.
I won’t blame you.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority have boxed the non-affluent out of playing “contact” high school sports to this point. I know more than one family that has secured a short-term lease in another state and sent one parent and a child to go play their prep sports season.
All because our state is woefully out of touch with the science and data that proves playing seven-on-seven football is really no different than holding a full-contact football season. The National Federation of State High School Associations issued a statement this week indicating its research found that “proven cases of direct COVID-19 transmission during athletics remain relatively rare.”
Turns out, per the organization that, “the majority of sports-related spread of COVID-19 appears to occur from social contact, not during sports participation.”
On Monday the governing body of high school athletics in our state was left to formulate a plan to create flag football or a seven-on-seven football league or maybe some kind of virtual combine for the high school kids.
I drove past a high school football field Monday late afternoon and found the varsity team lined up in formations running plays vs. air. They wore masks and didn’t have pads on. I’m left wondering if anyone in Salem is paying attention to what’s happened as it pertains to sports in our country.
The NBA doesn’t have a proven case of COVID-19 transmission during competition. Neither does the NFL, MLB or college football or basketball. The high school data in other states echoes that. We know that competition itself is a low-risk endeavor. The medical community has learned that it needs to be open to re-assessing evidence and making appropriate changes to policy. So why are we still talking about a tiered system for high school sports in Oregon?
New York has cleared high school contact sports. Illinois did it. So did New Mexico, too. They long ago played in a long list of other states. Peter Weber, head of the OSAA, told me on Monday, “We believe that with the right protocols in place, it’s been done in other states, we can do it here.”
Gov. Kate Brown’s office issued more word salad this week as it pertains to clearing kids to play sports. I can only surmise that those in charge haven’t spent much time communicating with high school kids who are frustrated, depressed and feeling as though they don’t matter to our state leaders. They’ve been marginalized, which is puzzling because children in our state were told for years that they were the greatest commodity we have.
Are they still?
If so, serve their needs.
I’ve talked with high school athletes, coaches and parents in the last few weeks and I’m convinced that if they organized they might become the most powerful lobbyist group Salem has ever seen. The sheer numbers are staggering. They’ve created Facebook groups and held protests in parks. One frustrated parent suggested this week that Gov. Brown couldn’t possibly ignore it if 10,000 parents and kids showed up on the steps of the capitol holding baseball gloves and balls and held a giant game of catch.
Can you imagine the scene?
I’d rather see state leaders stop dropping the ball today.
It’s time to clear high school sports to be played using protocols that science and data support. If they haven’t already, the OHA and governor’s office needs to spend a few minutes examining what other states who long ago played high school football learned from their seasons. Put in the work. Then: Let. Them. Play.
Still, here we are -- Weber and the OSAA delicately walked the line this week, aware that there’s no point in infuriating those who hold the keys to competition. Parents and athletes have been left to wonder if it’s worthwhile to relocate like others have for a few months and try to get in a sports season. And this sports columnist is left wishing that someone in our state capitol simply grasped the collateral damage.
“This is a tough, tough time for kids,” Lake Oswego High football coach Steve Coury told me. “I see it in their faces. I have four senior kids who have decided not to play. They look confused. They’re out of sync ... it’s hard to keep them going, but we’re doing our best.”
Nobody should stand in the way of that.
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Email: John@JohnCanzano.com
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