As if there was any hope of it continuing.
The NCAA cancelled men’s and women’s basketball championships as well as spring championships a month ago and the coronavirus has shown no signs of slowing down before the end of the school year.
The CIF hoped the spring seasons could be finished sometime this month, but it was not so. Friday it was announced by CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti that spring Section, Regional, and State Championship events would be cancelled.
As much as it hurts to see it happen, CIF is doing the right thing; following the rules. California high schools have recently turned to distance learning for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. With this decision by Governor Gavin Newsom, Nocetti and the CIF “does not see an avenue for the spring sports season to continue.”
Spring seasons were in their first couple weeks of competition when play stopped. Unfortunately for winter sports, the season stopped a week before the state championships for basketball were scheduled.
The St. Francis Knights in La Cañada Flintridge were one game away from a state championship trophy after making an improbable run in the postseason. Their head coach, Todd Wolfson, wrote a letter to his team that describes the feelings when they found out the news of a cancelled season.
“Our dreams ripped away from us, our goals shattered by an outside force. We met at nutrition break when I broke the news to you guys. Tears, sadness, prayer and hugs ensued as we didn’t understand how someone could take our dreams away. We were selfish. We only thought about why WE couldn’t go and why WE got screwed by this. Why US? We didn’t understand and felt all our hard work was a waste. We weren’t #TEAMFIRST.”
This feeling that Wolfson described was felt by many schools at many levels. In my last blog post, I wrote about what it was like for the Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team to find out their season was cancelled while practicing for the West Regional Playoffs. There isn’t much closure for athletes at this point.
However, Wolfson continues the article by explaining a single act by a senior on his team that goes beyond sports. “I will never forget amidst the tears and sadness, our seniors stood up and said, ‘We need to stop thinking about ourselves. We need to pray for everyone who is going to be fighting this disease and start to think about what we can do to help others.’”
This is the attitude that will get us through this time of uncertainty. A 17-18 year old figured out what people who are hoarding groceries and toilet paper haven’t: help others, pray for others. It seems so simple, but in a time where we don’t know when we will get our jobs back it is important for society to look beyond what problems we are facing and think of our neighbors.
So, high school athletes, college athletes, even though your season has been taken from you, you can still make an impact in ways that will make a difference.
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