UPDATED: AISA cancels remainder of Spring sports seasons

Pike Liberal Arts celebrates the 2019 state baseball championship. The opportunity to repeat was officially removed on Wednesday with the announcement from the AISA. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Officials with the Alabama Independent School Association announced on Wednesday the cancellation of all spring sports in the 2019-20 school season.

AISA executive director Michael McClendon had met repeatedly with the organization’s athletic and headmaster committees, adjusting timetables and scenarios in an effort to piece together some type of championship competition. Following Gov. Kay Ivey’s press conference on Tuesday in which she pushed back group gatherings to at least May 15, McClendon sent out an already-prepared notice on Wednesday.  

“Following the governor’s order yesterday, we made the final difficult decision to not resume the spring sports season,” the statement read. “I know many of you assumed that a return was unlikely, but we were trying to remain hopeful that a return was possible. Unfortunately, a return to competition is no longer a reasonable option for spring sports. 

“As for summer camps, programs and training, we are waiting for additional guidance from public health officials.   I imagine we will know a lot more about summer options prior to the May 15th expiration of the current health order. We are hopeful that some activities will be permissible in the summer months, but they might look different from previous activities. In short, we will have to wait and see.”

McClendon said the private school organization had made several adjustments since play was suspended on March 14 in the hope that champions could be crowned in the spring sports.

“A lot of those conversations happen internally with staff,” he said. “When this all started, the mindset was we’re looking at a potential suspension of a couple of weeks, we’re going to have to condense the season and focus on area games. As time went on and you started losing more days, the scenario has to change and you’re shifting your mindset. More days go by and the next scenario becomes how can we put together an invitational-type tournament – this goes for all sports – that gives everybody an opportunity to compete. That leads to yesterday and then we run out of time.”

Even then, there’s a hope that “normal” might resume on May 15 and the season can be extended into June.

“We did have that conversation,” he said. “But, obviously, school gets out, kids graduate, kids move on. You run into insurance problems. Are students covered under student insurance when they’re not students?”

With spring sports canceled, the next focus turns to summer camps, a major fundraiser for many athletic programs. The AISA coaches’ association canceled its annual meeting in Panama City Beach, Fla., set for May 29, but the annual AISA cheer camp, McClendon noted in his statement, is still set for June 24-27 in Troy.   

Other camps and clinics are annual events at the respective schools. 

“Those schools are in a wait-and-see position,” McClendon said. “What I told them today is if you’re not prepared to be flexible and alter your decision-making process, then you probably need to go ahead and plan not to do those things. You’ll need to come up with a Plan A and a Plan B and a Plan C and a Plan D. If you’re still planning to have those camps, obviously you’re going to have to come up with multiple scenarios. There’s going to be a lot of things you have to consider.”

Many of those camps, such as youth basketball or baseball summer camps, are critical fund raisers for the athletic departments. Other events, such as art camps, raise funds for the schools in an era where outside financial sources are critical for the success of the institution.

“They can survive,” McClendon said. “Some of that is supplemental money for coaches. Some of it is money for specific athletic programs, some of it is for the school’s general fund. They may have to be more creative. I saw yesterday where a coach who was previously in Montgomery who’s now in Texas was offering a virtual basketball camp. I saw where an art teacher was doing a how-to-draw (online instruction) with animated characters. You have to look at the bright side of it. It may be an opportunity to expose your school to more people.”

As the pandemic continues to affect every aspect of society, education administrators are forced to contemplate changes in the 2020-21 school year, along with football and volleyball that starts in August.

McClendon doesn’t want to look too far ahead, but praised educators at the local level who were able to make rapid changes from in-class instruction to online education in March when the pandemic hit.

“If we have to make drastic changes or alterations to the schedule, I think that’s a lot easier to do now,” he said. “It’s not as foreign as it would have been if none of this had happened. I think everybody is acclimated to this mindset and this environment. Whatever we have to do, I’m not going to say it’ll be easier but it will not be as foreign a concept dealing with drastic change.”

McClendon drafted an open letter to distribute through social media today, noting that “my heart breaks for our seniors and their families” but praising them “for your leadership and involvement in AISA.”