Ithaca High finding new rhythm

For Section IV football coaches, this offseason has been a rollercoaster ride. At the beginning of last month, it looked as if the fall sports season would begin Sept. 21. It was subsequently announced that football, volleyball and cheerleading were deemed high-risk and would not be part of that group. Then, all fall sports were postponed until 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic refused to slow down.

Teams are now looking at six extra months of preparation at the very least as the fall season is planned to start in March 2021. Similar to teachers everywhere, coaches are adjusting to the “new normal” for the time being. That entails virtual sessions and socially distant workouts with members of the team.

Ithaca football head coach Clarence Welch saw his outdoor track and field team’s season canceled earlier this year and does not want the same fate for the football team. He described the entire timeline of events regarding the football season thus far.

“Mind-boggling and confusing,” Welch said. “Obviously, with everything that’s going on, you’re trying to prepare for a season and get kids going and get them revved up and motivated and kind of have the rug pulled from underneath you. It was a bit of a shock for everybody. Then from there, it was just trying to figure out what we could do and things we couldn’t do essentially and try to manage from there.”

Similar to Lansing, Ithaca High School has been holding after-school workouts for fall athletes while they wait for their season to begin. Additionally, the Little Red are able to have on-field workouts that are more tailored to football twice a week. Welch expressed how crucial keeping the athletes active is during the extended offseason.

“We’ve been trying to stress to our kids the importance of just trying to get them back into the routine of what the new routine is,” Welch said. “We had to follow the model of what the school was doing, so we’re not seeing them every day — usually, once or twice a week. We’re trying to actually drill into them the importance of getting back into the routine of being student-athletes again.”

IHS opened up at the beginning of October, so the athletes are in their third week of offseason workouts. Not every student elected to participate in in-person learning understandably, which leads to another adjustment Welch has to make.

“The ones that are here, they’re starting to feel more comfortable than the ones that we haven’t been able to reach,” Welch said. “We’re trying to get those guys to do some things at home on their own, maybe buddy-up with a kid on the team to try to get themselves more comfortable so that when we can do things in March, everybody’s comfortable by that point.”

One factor that all the fall sports will have to deal with when the season (hopefully) comes around in March is the weather. There can certainly be some tough days weather wise in September and October for these teams, but the tail end of winter in March will be a new opponent for the Little Red to take on.

“[We’ll want to] keep them moving as much as possible,” Welch said. “We run a fast-paced practice anyway. [We’re] just being creative with the weight room. It’s possibly going to be virtual film sessions. It’s going to be a creative and collaborative effort to try to keep kids motivated and keep them moving. Doing things virtually can be a negative, obviously, because you’re not actually running the plays and getting your timing down. But we just have to cope with what’s kind of handed to us.”

Welch went into more detail about the difficulties of teaching football through a screen.

“At this level, it’s an extreme challenge because the kids aren’t as versed in the sport as a college kid would be or an NFL kid would be,” Welch said. “It’s just trying to drill home the importance of key concepts. For us, we’re in a unique situation where we have a more veteran team of underclassmen. Having that little bit of experience is going to help ease that challenge a little bit.”

One of those returning players is Chase Sposito, who stood out as the team’s starting quarterback as a sophomore last year. With two seasons left of Sposito at the helm, Welch can’t help but get excited about what the future could hold for the Little Red.

“It’s going to be a good ride,” Welch said. “The current junior class is pretty special. They have some very good athletes, with Chase being the leader of that group. I’ve been leaning on him a little bit. I’ve talked to him a few times over the summer and the beginning of this fall, leaning on him for leadership, [telling him to] start being a little bit more commanding and demanding and corral these guys together. He’s been adjusting to that very well. I’m excited to see him grow the next two years.”

All the obstacles Ithaca is overcoming this offseason will be more than worth it as there will be a new field waiting for the team for the upcoming season. Joe Moresco Stadium has been undergoing renovations, and the brand new playing surface is just adding to the anticipation the Little Red has for March to finally come around.