IHSAA extends season suspension by two more weeks

SANDPOINT — We’ll have to wait even longer for high school sports to return in Idaho.

The Idaho High School Activities Association announced Tuesday they are extending the suspension of all spring sports and practices by two weeks. The original suspension was until April 5. Now teams could return to practice on April 20.

The date aligns with the order from the Idaho State Board of Education to close all schools in the state until April 20 so this move by the IHSAA was expected but wasn’t one athletes and coaches eager to get back to action were hoping to hear.

With this new return date, the amount of playing time high school athletes could see this spring will be extremely limited. Based on the current schedule for Sandpoint, all the Bulldog teams will be competing in districts during the first week of May with state championships the following week. And that’s if the current return date stays the same.

The Idaho State Board of Education is already discussing extending the statewide closure of schools to the end of the month to comply with the recent social distancing guidelines laid out by President Donald Trump.

The IHSAA has also made it clear over the past few weeks that they will not push back the start dates of the state tournaments (May 11-16) given how difficult it would be to reschedule them and find new venues. But Ty Jones, IHSAA executive director, told the Idaho Statesman on Tuesday that the IHSAA would consider extending the season or rescheduling state events as part of one of their contingency plans if enough schools are interested in doing so.

The reality is this spring sports — if there is one — will be severely abbreviated.

Sandpoint Athletic Director Kris Knowles said the most realistic scenario he sees playing out is teams opening their seasons with regionals and then having state the following week because athletes and coaches will need a week or two to get back into the swing of things.

“We need to be careful when we do come back and the athletes are building up toward competition,” he said. “You can’t just come back on April 20 and play a game on the 21st, I don’t think that’s safe.”

Knowles is aware that all the Bulldog athletes are doing whatever they can to stay in shape and be ready for the season during this break but he said practices and games are a whole different animal.

Things are changing by the minute but Knowles said the IHSAA should do whatever they can to give high school athletes some semblance of a season.

“I’m always going to err on the side of trying to do what’s best for kids to get this thing in,” he said.

Knowles believes the IHSAA should consider extending the season and he isn’t the only one.

“We’re kind of living in a world right now where you have to find solutions rather than problems and I think that could be a potential solution,” he said. “Every athletic director that I’ve talked to in the last few weeks wants there to be a season and wants there to be tournaments, and if that means bumping it back then lets try.”

Knowles’ phone has been ringing constantly over the past few weeks with calls from fellow AD’s around the state and they are all struggling with this situation.

“It’s really, really strange because we’re all in a holding pattern,” he said. “All of us are go-getters, all of us are kind of type-A personalities that want to get after it and there’s nothing to get after right now and that’s kind of odd for all of us.”

The future is uncertain for spring sports in Idaho this year. Long bus rides, rivalry games, new friendships, life lessons and state championship runs are all in jeopardy of being lost for high school athletes this season.

Knowles has tried to imagine what it would’ve been like to have his final senior memories as an athlete stripped from him and it’s tough for him to do.

“Those are things you spend your whole life working toward and they’re not able to do that right now,” he said. “Putting myself in their shoes I feel for them, I really do. Coaches are going to get another opportunity to coach, I’m going to get another opportunity to be an athletic director, these seniors are not going to get another opportunity to do those things they are looking forward to.”

But it isn’t over yet.