KSHSAA decision on fall sports eagerly awaited
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – The executive board for the Kansas High School Activities Association plans to meet Tuesday to decide on a timeline for the fall sports season. KSHSAA sent out a survey to area school districts last week seeking feedback.
Nearly half of US. states have already modified their schedule for high school sports according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Six states will not have football in the fall.
KSHSAA’s decision tomorrow could change the landscape of high school athletics, but football coaches in our area are ready for a decision one way or another.
“Every coach I’ve talked to across the state, they’re struggling with it too because they don’t know what it’s going to look like,” Emporia High head football coach Corby Milleson said.
Whatever it may look like, as long as they can do so safely, coaches want to get their kids on the field
“I know for one thing, our kids wanna play, and if we have to play with no fans in the stands, I’m sure that there’s some parents out there that would rather have that than not have a season,” Wamego head football coach Weston Moody said.
Other states have made adjustments, some as drastic as moving all sports to spring, but Kansas is a little behind the curve on that and coaches think it would be tough for athletes.
“I’m also head baseball coach so, for me, I have a soft place in my heart for those kids who missed out on their spring season so if you flip, there’s a chance that those kids are going to miss two seasons,” Moody said.
“I’d be out of the kids that we have, three fourths of those kids are multi-sport athletes, and I’m gonna lose some of my best players to baseball and I’m gonna lose a lot my speed to our track team, and I fully support those two programs and wouldn’t want make a kid choose,” Milleson said.
In Texas, they’re staggering their classes, small schools playing early, but the intertwinement of school scheduling makes that tough here.
“We’re a small town community but we’re also gonna travel to Kansas City, and we’re playing inner-city Kansas City schools, so I don’t think that really works,” said Moody.
Coaches will hopefully have answers tomorrow, but there is one thing everyone can do to help right now.
“I just want to encourage everybody to continue to mask up, stay socially distant, I know the mask deal has been highly politicized. For me, it’s not political, it’s doing the right thing,” Milleson said.