By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
LYFORD – Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. and county health authority James W. Castillo, M.D. issued an order Tuesday that will keep schools closed for on-campus instruction until at least Sept. 8, which will be delaying the start of fall sports seasons.
The order mandates that “extracurricular sports and activities shall not take place until school systems re-open for on-campus instruction.” Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez and county health authority Dr. Ivan Melendez issued a similar order Tuesday that will prevent on-campus instruction and sports until Sept. 27.
The UIL and TAPPS have Aug. 3 as the start date for football, volleyball and cross country practices, but most of the coaches and athletes in those sports across the Valley will have to wait and hope the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t cancel fall sports seasons like it did spring.
“The health and well-being of our citizens and our community is on the minds of our local leaders, and I completely understand,” said St. Joseph Academy athletic director and football coach Tino Villarreal. “But reality kind of hits you where you start seeing the fall sports start to slip away from you. Sports play a huge role in developing the lives of young men and women, and for our kids, especially our seniors, to not have sports this year would be tragic.”
Being the only TAPPS school in the Rio Grande Valley has pluses and minuses for SJA. Villarreal said the Sept. 8 start date would give SJA “ample time, about three weeks” to get kids ready for district competition, so he’s optimistic those seasons will happen. But the Cameron County health order leaves the Bloodhounds at a disadvantage as their opponents might be starting practices much earlier.
Harlingen CISD athletic director Robert Davies called the COVID-19 pandemic a fluid situation that changes almost daily, which makes it hard to create a plan for sports. He said he understands the decision to delay the opening of schools, even if that creates unfortunate possibilities for athletics.
“It’s difficult for our coaches and our athletes,” Davies said. “I’m hopeful that our seniors can have that opportunity to experience senior year. I think back fondly on that year for myself and I’ve seen it have great dividends for kids over and over, and I’d hate to see that taken away because of this virus. But ultimately, the health and welfare of our community is going to trump everything.
Davies doesn’t envy the task the UIL currently has of trying to create a plan to put everyone on the same playing field as counties and school districts make varying decisions. He said the HCISD athletic department has some scenarios drawn up, but with the ever-changing landscape, he’s waiting to make anything official until guidance from the UIL is released.
Schools in the Valley will be crunched for time to complete standard district seasons with the delayed starts. The district certification deadline for cross country is currently set for Oct. 17, volleyball’s deadline is Oct. 31 and the football deadline is Nov. 7.
Cross country has a slight advantage since it’s a fairly individual sport, but Brownsville Hanna cross country coach Olaya Teran said it’s still hard that the kids can’t be together. She’s trusting her athletes to be ready to compete as soon as they come back.
“One benefit of our sport, trails are available, so they can go run whenever its best for them and we don’t need equipment and all that stuff. But it’s still hard because we want them to run together,” Teran said. “But parents are concerned with (them going out), so we have to understand that maybe some haven’t been training as much.”
Brownsville Jubilee volleyball coach Rebekah Perez said she was bummed to learn about the delayed start to the season, but said the health of her athletes is most important. Jubilee’s District 32-3A dropped to six teams following realignment, which Perez called an advantage for this upcoming year since it won’t have to squeeze so many district games into a short time frame.
District 32-6A grew by two teams and matches 32-5A as an eight-team volleyball district. Both districts house teams from Cameron and Hidalgo counties, meaning if they play a standard district season with two games against each opponent, they’d have to play 14 games in four to five weeks.
“I see the good and the bad, but for me I’d rather my girls be safe, even if that means starting the season later or even not having a season,” Perez said. “I’m optimistic, I have my fingers crossed that a season will happen. I know my girls are very strong-minded, so when they come into the gym they’re going to be, like, ‘Hey, we’ve already lost this time, so we need to take it super seriously.'”