More planning to come before high school sports resume

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)–The sights and sounds of sports have been missed over the past three months, with the coronavirus shutting down high school sports in mid-March. Now, schools across the state of North Carolina are preparing to get student-athletes back to practice in the coming weeks.

“The biggest thing that we wanted to make sure we did, is not announce something then go back and change it,”said Pender High School Athletic Director Matt Davis. “We tried to make sure we held off as long as possible. So, that we could get our ducks in a row.”

Everything seemed to line up for Pender County Schools. On Tuesday, the school district approved July 6th as the date they will resume high school athletics. Schools in New Hanover and Brunswick County are still playing the waiting game.

“We’re just in the holding pattern now,”says Ashley High School Athletic Director Kelly Lewis. “We were ready to go on the 22nd, but you know the district said were going to hold off. So, were hoping for July 6th now to be our kickoff.”

While waiting on the return to action date, schools across the Cape Fear are preparing to provide the safest environment to their student-athletes when the time comes. Pender High School says they will require their coaches to have detailed plans for each workout.

“Here at Pender High School, any coach that’s going to do a workout is going to sit down and we’re going to walk through exactly what they will be doing,”says Davis. “We need to make sure their boxes are all checked and make sure that they have a solid plan in place.”

Sports are a important component of any high school, but administrators say nothing is more of a priority than the health and safety of everyone involved.

“The security and safety of every student and student-athlete is always the number one priority,”says Lewis. “Whether they are in the school building or outside on the athletics fields. That’s always the number one priority for us all.”

Two weeks ago the NCHSAA released their “Phase One” plan for student-athletes to return to play. The plan allowed the state to drop the athletic dead period on June 15th, allowing local school districts to ultimately decide when teams may return.