The recent expiration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s limited-time coronavirus mitigation efforts also meant the resumption of the winter sports season.

Wolf announced that all sports at K-12 public schools, nonpublic schools, private schools and club, travel, recreational, intermural, and intramural sports were paused as of 12:01 a.m. Dec. 12 until 8 a.m. this past Monday.

With practices underway and the restart of competition coming in a matter of days, many coaches and administrators around the area have been happy to try to get back on track.

“The kids have been really great with it,” said Palmerton girls basketball head coach Dan Beck. “They just go day-by-day with everything. And we’re just thankful that we have a season at all, to be honest with you. But we’re really looking forward to it; we’ve got a great bunch of kids.”

Ready to start

It’s a season that was always going to look a little different.

While the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and the Colonial League had already voted to delay the start of their seasons until January, the Schuylkill League was on track to open on time in December before the stoppage.

“It was tough, since last March, this whole thing has been tough,” said Northwestern Director of Athletics & Student Activities Jason Zimmerman, who is also the Colonial League Treasurer and District 11 Football and Competitive Spirit Chairman. “Like a roller-coaster ride with plenty of ups and downs. I firmly believe our coaches, our players, and myself found solace in knowing that we were doing our part to help out our front line health care workers, especially in the hospitals, who were inundated just before the holidays.

“Understanding that interscholastic athletics is likely not contributing to the spread of this virus, if just maybe the shutdown of sports gave the hospitals time to level out and have more ICU beds available for patients in need, then we were proud to do our part.”

Clearing the way

The challenges have been - and will continue to be - numerous as schools work to navigate each day, let alone an entire season.

“I’m proud of the way our guys have handled it,” said Jim Thorpe boys basketball head coach Jason McElmoyle. “They’re doing everything right that’s in their power to make sure that our season can happen. Our school has done a great job with providing us with what we need to keep the kids safe, and it’s tough when you have so many sports going on at one time, between girls and boys basketball; junior high and freshman basketball; and wrestling to accommodate us and make sure everybody has as much court time as they can possibly get.

“It’s awesome to see what everybody can do working together. That’s why we have a 20-game season scheduled, and right now we’re ready to get rolling.”

McElmoyle knows much of this transition will come down to how his players adapt to the compressed schedule to offset a potential steep learning curve.

“We had a scrimmage right before we got shut down, so we did have an opportunity to have a Google Meeting and watch our scrimmage and break it down,” he said. “We kind of emphasized that a lot of this season is going to be on you guys, and independent learning, more so than going through the drills. We would send them plays on what we wanted to do, and they would have to learn them by reading the playbook rather than constantly walking through it.”

Accepting the challenges

Wearing masks during practices and games adds another variable to the equation.

“Wearing a mask wears you down a little bit, and taking almost a month off means you’re not really as conditioned as you would be at this point in the season,” said McElmoyle. “You’re fresher, but you’re not as conditioned.

“So we told our younger guys that they’re going to have to mature a lot faster this season because we’re going to depend on them with subbing a lot. So they have to be able to go in there and fill those roles in a short amount of time.”

With contact to players limited during the offseason, McElmoyle praised the efforts of his upperclassmen to make sure they were prepared.

“In the summer, our seniors, led by Caiden Hurley, got our team together and put them in a summer league without a coach just so they could play,” McElmoyle said. “I thought that was a pretty cool thing that our seniors took that upon themselves to do that. They know what’s at stake, and what needs to get done.”

Masks have presented a unique element to each sport, especially wrestling.

“We’re going to keep doing what we have to do,” said Lehighton wrestling coach Floyd Brown. “At practice, we’re really on the kids, making sure the masks are on and that they’re socially distancing. We’re trying to stay with the same pod of partners, which was one of the recommendations.

“But it’s been good. The kids have been super with it. They know they have to take these precautions, because if they want to have a season, we really need to take this seriously to do what we can and hopefully get a full season in.”

New look

What that season will look like has changed several times for each school and league.

“Reworking the schedules was unique,” said Zimmerman. “Just before the Governor’s announcement, the league tweaked the schedule again deciding to delay, and I literally just finished booking independent games for the month of December when the Governor came on around dinner time and shut it down until Jan. 4.

“I took the next few weeks and rescheduled the games I could and picked up other opponents for the month of January and February again, just to make sure our kids are afforded as much opportunity to play as possible. Bob Frey, of Saucon Valley, truly is the guy who has been reworking league contests what seems to be at least the fourth time now.”

Those changes have extended outside the realm of competition, too.

“Rearranging practice and gym schedules came after the contest schedules were pretty much finalized and (Northwestern girls basketball) Coach (Chris) Deutsch took on that role for me,” Zimmerman said of the Assistant to the Director of Athletics & Student Activities. “The look on his face when I told him we need to blow-up the original schedule and start from scratch was priceless, but he sharpened his pencil and had a new practice schedule ready to go in less than 48 hours. He is a huge reason why our coaches had updated schedules by New Year’s Day.”

Safety first

Schools have worked closely with their health care partners and trainers to develop a game plan for how to deal with the shutdown by providing virtual workouts for their student-athletes, and how practices are run with extra safety precautions.

But they’ve also been a vital resource in assessing the situation in real time, as well as planning for any changes that might be on the horizon.

“Our partners at LVHN (Lehigh Valley Health Network) have been amazing and have been on speed dial throughout this pandemic,” said Zimmerman. “Dave Maxted, Brendan Moriarty, and Rachele Cerrone probably want to ignore my phone calls and texts, but every time, without fail, they respond and give us sound medical advice.

“That team of individuals I mentioned are some of the best, and I trust them all immensely with any guidance they provide. Crazy as it may sound, throughout this pandemic, I used a number of ICU beds available in the area as one of my indicators throughout the fall and winter, and Dave continues to keep me posted with that information, which is a tremendous help and gauge for me.”

Moving ahead

What comes next will still bring more uncertainty and unknowns.

But the decisions that are made will continue to be carefully considered, no matter the circumstances.

“From Bryan Geist, our Colonial League President, to Bob Hartman, our District 11 Chairman, all the way up to Dr. (Robert) Lombardi, our PIAA Executive Director and his staff, their efforts, their leadership, their constant consultation with the medical experts, and their tireless work, always ready to pivot when necessary does not go unnoticed,” said Zimmerman. “What may be most impressive is how they always take the approach of securing data, diving into that data, and then making the best decision possible using that data, knowing that whatever decision they make will be criticized.

“None of us have ever experienced anything like this before, and I pray we never have to again, but we certainly are fortunate to have these folks captaining the ship. Northwestern Lehigh is extremely proud to be members of the Colonial League, District 11, and the PIAA and everything those organizations do for the student-athletes they serve.”