Darren Kinnard
Section618.com
ROXANA — Roxana athletic director and head basketball coach Mark Briggs has a lot of spare time these days, but it’s not by choice. With current COVID-19 mitigations put in place by Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health, all indoor youth and high school recreational sports have been paused.
“I refuse to quit working,” Briggs said. “I’m optimistic. I know that sounds crazy to say that.”
Briggs has a bit of a unique perspective as coach, AD, and father of a high school athlete.
With the winter season unable to start on time, it throws a wrench into the original schedule of seasons released by the IHSA. Briggs has put together a plan on how to get the winter, spring and summer seasons in with limited overlap.
We visited with Briggs back in July to discuss a proposal he put together for a way to make sure all sports seasons in the 2020-21 school year got played despite the pandemic. Just as with that proposal, Briggs hopes this plan is a discussion starter.
It’s a plan that is based on all sports getting the green light from state health officials. Briggs believes that if a sport cannot be played in its scheduled “window”, then it needs to be canceled–not postponed until a possible later date which would conflict with other sports.
“I set this up so kids wouldn’t have to make decisions about the traditional sports they play,” Briggs said.
That includes the sport he coaches, basketball. With a talented group of seniors, this likely will be Briggs’ best team in his 21 years of coaching. At the same point, he recognizes the problems that come along with pushing basketball back to later in the spring, causing it to overlap with other sports. Briggs doesn’t see how sharing players, and even coaches, can work.
“You’re talking to a guy, this (basketball) is what my family lives for is this time of year,” Briggs said. “We are not in a position to be pushing seasons on top of other seasons. There’s nothing worse being a kid than having to make a decision on who to please when playing two sports. Who’s practice do I go to?”
So here’s the plan Briggs has put together. The winter season would start with practices January 4 with games starting January 18 and ending March 6. The winter sports would include boys/girls basketball, boys swimming and diving, competitive cheerleading, competitive dance, boys/girls bowling, girls gymnastics, and wrestling.
Briggs’ plan would move the IHSA’s 2021 summer sports back closer to their traditional spring home. The spring season would start with practices February 22 with games starting March 8 and ending May 1. The spring sports would include baseball, softball, girls soccer, girls badminton, boys gymnastics, boys/girls water polo, boys/girls track and field, and wrestling.
“Keeping these seasons in a normal spot makes the most sense,” Briggs said.
Note: Briggs has wrestling in all three seasons with its eventual landing spot determined by the availabilty of a vaccine and rapid testing.
The summer season would start practices April 19 with games starting May 3 and ending June 26. The summer sports would included football, boys soccer, boys/girls volleyball, boys/girls lacrosse, boys tennis and wrestling.
Briggs’ philosophy behind the schedule starts with safety for football. He believes the prospects of practicing on frozen fields in February as well as playing and practicing on soggy grass fields after the thaw would ultimately lead to injuries.
“You’re trying to teach kids how to tackle safely–the right way, correct form,” Briggs said. “I can’t see where you’re gonna have many opportunities to have great footing on any field at that time of the year.”
At the same time, Briggs recognizes the biggest obstacle in this plan is safety for football, and the quick turnaround for next season in the fall. He thinks that can be remedied with a mandated dead period and perhaps pushing the start of the next season back.
“The IHSA has a lot of rules you’re supposed to follow,” Briggs said. “There’s no reason you couldn’t have a 45-60 day ‘no touch period’ for kids other than incoming freshman.”
Briggs has sent his plan to the IHSA. He said they told him that some of his ideas had merit and were good conversation pieces for the board.
“That’s a win,” Briggs said. “It’s not a win (for me), it’s a win for our kids.”
Mission accomplished–at least partially.
(Briggs’ full interview with Darren Kinnard about his plan is in two parts at the top of this page.)