Ithaca AD reacts to fall postponement saga

On Sunday, Sept. 13, the Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) became the second league in Section IV to postpone all fall sports. Shortly thereafter, Section IV itself postponed fall sports. These announcements came not long after New York state gave the greenlight for low-risk sports to begin this month.

The ever-changing landscape of high school sports in the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a tumultuous offseason for sports administrators, including Ithaca High School Athletic Director Samantha Little. In just a few weeks’ time, we’ve gone from no sports, to some sports and then back to no sports. Little discussed how she’ll be adjusting her approach to the semester.

“While this has been disappointing and extremely difficult, we’re looking forward to the opportunity to provide a venue for our students to work on their social and emotional well-being, to do some skill development and training and to really prepare and be ready to go,” Little said. “What we don’t want to happen is on Jan. 4, we get together and there are injuries or students aren’t able to emotionally deal with adding sports back into their lives, so to speak.”

Little added that the focus on next season began once spring sports were canceled back in March. Even with that much time, the ever-evolving nature of the virus has proven to be a difficult roadblock to overcome.

“From that time moving forward, and just watching the trends and looking at the data and seeing the effects of COVID, those conversations were happening,” Little said. “The timeline is something that we’ve been talking about for quite some time and again, ultimately recognizing that there are so many impacts, whether it be transportation, budget, staffing, all of those things. We want to do it well and do it safely as opposed to just doing it to do it and then not being prepared.”

As more time passes since the initial sports cancellation on March 13, unrest grows among athletes and parents who hope to avoid the fate of the spring 2020 athletes who were unable to play at all. Little assured that while she’d love to field her athletic teams, it’s just not possible at the moment.

“[NYSPHSAA is] saying Nov. 30 for winter sports. Well, STAC, we’re saying Jan. 4,” Little said. “So ultimately, this was going to have to determine those timelines for play, but I think in the interim, you’re trying to communicate with families as best you can, and it’s confusing. It’s confusing for us, but families just have to recognize that yes, there isn’t anything that’s saying that you can’t get out there right now and play, but right now, at least in our district, we’re at a virtual distance learning model.”

While she has remained positive throughout the process, Little expressed her gripe with the series of events that led to the postponement of fall sports.

“There are certain decisions that need to be made at certain levels,” Little said. “When you get input, those decisions need to be made then move on. When we saw that collegiate student-athletes weren’t participating, to me, it should have been maybe announced then. Then, we could have put things into place and look to see what we can do. The most difficult thing through all of this has been just the lack of clarity and transparency in the decision-making.”

To ensure student-athletes stay active, Ithaca’s weight rooms will open up Oct. 5. This was an adjustment that had to be made in a tight window due to the short amount of time between the postponement decision and the original start date of the fall season.

“We kept getting, ‘Guidance is coming out from the governor. Guidance is coming out from NYSPHSAA,’” Little said. “Again, everybody’s doing their best, but I just think we have to remember that the most precious and most impacted people in all of this are our students. Unfortunately, they’re the ones who usually have to be resilient. I think sometimes we could just do a little bit more and be a little bit more student-centered in our decisions.”

Little drew from her own experience to detail how student-athletes are suffering during this time.

“Our students are doing their absolute best, but it’s extremely difficult,” Little said. “I have three children, and they all participate in ICSD athletics. They’re struggling. They’re doing what they can, but it’s definitely had an impact. It’s not just the physical piece, but there’s that social and emotional piece. I think, again, that sometimes it’s not always seen outwardly.”

Through these challenging times, Ithaca athletics have received great support from the school and surrounding area.

“We have an amazing community,” Little said. “While they are disappointed, they’re being extremely supportive. Our communities and our students have been saying, ‘What can we do to help? What do you need from us?’ So, that’s been extremely encouraging.”

The next checkpoint for Ithaca will be Jan. 4, which is the tentative start date for winter sports for STAC. Little ensured that the school was ready for both the Aug. 23 and Sept. 21 start dates and that they’ll certainly be ready to return to play come January.