ROCKINGHAM — High school basketball, like all sports in 2020, looked a little different when the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ programs began official tryouts on Monday.
Not too far off the start of their normal winter schedules, the Raiders and Lady Raiders took to the hardwood for the first time since last February.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s revised schedule opened the 2020-2021 basketball season roughly five weeks later this year due to the pandemic. Games will not begin until the start of the second semester on Jan. 4.
Both Richmond programs, however, have been holding voluntary workouts the last several months since sports were cleared to return in August.
Monday marked the first day of tryouts, with the boys’ program and head coach Donald Pettigrew working out at the Ninth Grade Academy. The Lady Raiders and head coach Teddy Moseley used their home court at Richmond.
One of the newest changes to the basketball teams’ regimens has been abiding by a mask mandate for players and coaches during practice and games. Although masks are now required for practices, neck gaiters will not be permitted when the season begins.
To help players adapt to the physical rigor of playing at game speed with a face covering, the NCHSAA Board of Directors approved a 60-second pause in action each quarter to allow players a chance to acclimate themselves.
“Wearing masks is tough, even when you have to wear one when you’re walking,” Pettigrew said. “The guys will have to adjust to playing at a fast pace with them on, and we don’t have a choice. But I think they’ll adjust to it.”
The NCHSAA is also implementing other protocols to try and ensure player, coach and spectator safety this winter. Teams will not be allowed to shake hands before or after games, and team benches will also be placed on the opposite side of the gym away from fans, similar to how volleyball matches are being played currently.
Because the basketball itself will be the main piece of equipment shared between teams, each team will be required to bring its own warm-up equipment. The game ball will be sanitized ahead of the game, and it will be the home team’s responsibility to sanitize it during timeouts and stoppage in play.
Eliminated this season will be the jump ball, as the visiting team will be awarded the first possession of the game. During an overtime period, a coin flip will be used to decide which teams gets the initial possession.
“The good thing is we’ve had a head start getting used to the new protocols because of workouts,” Moseley explained. “We’re making sure to sanitize the basketballs, players are getting their temperatures checked and everyone is wearing a mask and using hand sanitizer.
“It’s good to be back and we’ve had a good showing,” he added of day one. “The girls know we’re in it now and we have a lot of new faces. That helps build continuity, especially when we have new players in a new offense.”
Both teams held tryouts for roughly an hour Monday, seeing about 25 players come out for both teams. Pettigrew said the Raiders will run just a varsity and a junior varsity team this winter, with no freshman team. The Lady Raiders will have their usual varsity and JV lineups.
The boys opened practice with a series of warmup drills, passing and shooting drills. That was followed by a series of scrimmages played between the senior and juniors, as well as the sophomores and freshmen. Pettigrew and his coaching staff watched from the sideline.
Moseley ran a similar set of first-day drills to get his players tuned up, starting with layups, shooting drills and a three-player weave drill. The Lady Raiders capped day one with defensive footwork and positioning and work from the free throw line.
Despite the new circumstances, both Pettigrew and Moseley hope to make the upcoming season as normal as possible for players and fans.
“We want it to be as normal as possible for everyone. But the big thing for me is that our seniors will get a chance to play their last season,” Pettigrew said. “We’ll take the season day by day, show up and we’re not going to complain about anything.”
