HAMLET — A day after the North Carolina High School Athletic Association gave local education agencies the authority to resume high school athletics as early as June 15, Richmond County officials pushed the date back at least another week.
A meeting was held Tuesday between Richmond County Schools superintendent Dr. Jeff Maples, Dr. Julian Carter, Mr. Dennis Quick, Mr. Jim Butler, Mr. Rob Ransom, Coach Mitch Haddinger and Dr. Tommy Jarrell to discuss the immediate future of interscholastic athletics.
The panel, consisting of RCS central office staff (Maples, Carter and Quick), Richmond Senior High School administrators (Butler, Ransom and Haddinger) and Dr. Jarrell, the county’s Health and Human Services director, decided that all sports activity in the area will remain on hiatus until at least June 22 at the earliest.
In what has become a back-and-forth affair at all levels across the state, high school athletes and coaches are currently in day 89 with no sports. The NCHSAA stopped all play on March 13 following the increased concern of the coronavirus pandemic.
The NCHSAA pushed back the return date three different times, but will lift the dead period in less than a week. The decision by local officials will make it the fourth time Raider and Lady Raider athletes will wait for another hopeful re-opening date.
“We met today and based on the information about (current) cases in the county, we had to postpone things a little longer,” Ransom, Richmond’s athletic director, said. “Right now we are erring on the side of caution.
“The NCHSAA just put out new guidelines and we haven’t gotten them set yet,” he added. “Things are changing so fast now and we have to wait a little bit to get this organized. It’s a strange time and I hate it. I want everyone on the field, but at the same time we’re in a pandemic.”
A decision was made for the committee to reconvene next Wednesday, June 17, to reassess the numbers and data and see if the following Monday would be the best option.
According to statistics published by the Richmond County DHHS on Tuesday, there have been 184 cases of COVID-19 in Richmond County since testing started. There are 56 active cases, 53 of whom are in home isolation while the other three are hospitalized.
There have been four coronavirus-related deaths reported by DHHS in the county, and 124 patients have recovered from the illness. A total of 1,485 negative tests have also been conducted.
“There are not a lot of schools going back right now,” Ransom explained. “We had a (Sandhills Athletic Conference) AD meeting this morning, and only Pinecrest is starting on Wednesday. Everyone else is waiting to schedule meetings to make their decisions.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Wake County Schools both announced that they won’t let student-athletes return to the practice field until July 6, the first day back from the only planned dead period this summer.
With the official end of the school year just a day away, most of Richmond’s fall sports programs would be gearing up for a summer full of workouts, practices and conditioning. Among those teams are football, boys’ soccer and volleyball, three “higher infection risk” sports according to the NCHSAA’s guidelines.
Summer developmental camps for all three sports, as well as Richmond’s annual cheerleading camp, are off the table as of now. The football program, which usually starts its spring practices in March and runs through the summer, hasn’t been on the field at all since last December.
“I spoke to Mr. Quick, Mr. Butler and Mr. Ransom, and I told them I completely disagree. I’m sick to my stomach,” fourth-year head football coach Bryan Till said of the decision. “I’m hurting really badly right now. The longer this goes, the harder time I’m having understanding why we can’t get together.”
“I’m obviously disappointed because I love our kids, and they need the positive interactions of being together and playing football. I know this because I’ve spoken to them, and now they keep being told they can’t do it.”
Till said he did the math last week about the death rate in North Carolina involving persons aged 24 and under using CDC statistics, which came out to 0.025 percent.
He said he understands the virus still poses a risk for family members and other populations, but he hopes to see his boys of fall, and all the other RSHS fall programs, get back to work sooner rather than later.
The Richmond Observer will continue to update this story.
