NCHSAA ending dead period June 15, local schools waiting district approval

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)–High school sports across the state of North Carolina have been on hold since mid-March due to the coronavirus, but on Monday a step was taken to return to action.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association announced that it would be ending its athletic dead period on June 15. The decision came as a relief to coaches across the Cape Fear in more way than one.

“We can interact and see each other again finally,”says South Brunswick High School football coach Rocky Lewis. “From that standpoint I think everybody’s excited, I’ve gotten tons of texts and calls today asking what the details were. We just had to say hang tight.”

The excitement to return has grown over the past several weeks for both athletes and coaches as they awaited a decision from the NCHSAA. The area schools know this is just the first step and the decision will ultimately come down to the local education agencies.

“Well I was pretty excited to see it, the obvious limitation is it doesn’t really matter to much what the state decides, it’s what the county decides for us,”said Hoggard volleyball coach Ron Strickland. “That’s the end all be all for us, I hope that they will come down with similar guidelines.”

The Cape Fear area school districts are expected to make a decision this week. If the counties decide to stick with the states restrictions for “Phase One” the activity will be limited, but they say it gives them the opportunity to begin training for the fall.

“Even if were not able to use a football, being able to get out and run, do agility, and a little bit of strength training is is better than doing nothing,”said Lewis. “So, even if it’s a couple weeks before were able to resume normal activities we’ll take what we can get.”

The districts are holding out hope that they will be able to return to normal play this school year, but they know the situation will continue to unfold day by day and week by week.

“That would be wonderful if we can, but you know we deal with the cards as they’re dealt to us,”says Strickland.

For further details on the NCHSAA Phase One plan you can visit their website.