Delay of high school girls soccer, football to September at best
Reaction from area girls soccer coaches
(First of a two-part series. Next week, local high school football coaches react to TSSAA's revised football schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic)
The 2020 high school girls soccer season will not begin on time.
When Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee recently extended the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the TSSAA announced both the high school football and girls soccer seasons would be delayed until at least September because those are contact sports.
Golf, Cross country, and volleyball currently are still slated to begin as scheduled.
Three area high school girls soccer head coaches, Farragut’s Kristen Lyons, Hardin Valley Academy’s Jessie Stephens and Bearden’s Ryan Radcliffe are all disappointed.
But they all lauded the TSSAA for its effort to assure that Tennessee’s teams have a full season. Under the current orders, soccer teams may not scrimmage or have contact in practices. The teams, however, may continue weight-lifting and conditioning activities.
“We are going to continue to train,” Lyons, the Lady Admirals’ first-year head coach, said. “I’m not sure this is such a bad thing and I don’t absolutely hate it.
“We have a culture in our sport where it’s games, games, games.
“It’s up to the coaches to change that culture and emphasize training. This will still give us, as coaches, the chance to teach the game,” she added.
Meanwhile, at Hardin Valley, Stephens told her players to remain cautious as the state of emergency continues.
“I mean, it’s disappointing and I know that these girls really want to have a season, and I think that the TSSAA is doing the right thing. They’re doing the best they can to make sure that we have a full season,” said Stephens, who guided the Lady Hawks to a District 4-AAA Tournament Championship in 2019. “These girls want to have a season because they missed their club season (in the spring).
“But I’ve told our girls, ‘it’s on you if you want to have a season.’ They need to think about that before they go to pool parties.”
Like Stephens, Radcliffe applauds the TSSAA’s efforts.
“I think that the TSSAA is making the best decision in a really tough situation,” he said. “They’re trying to do everything that the can to make sure that we have a full season.
“I’m an optimist and this could’ve been a lot worse. I’m trying to be optimistic, but sometimes trying to be optimistic really wears on you.”
Radcliffe also questioned the length of Lee’s extension of the state of emergency order.
“I’m not really sure why he extended it two months,” Radcliffe said. “I think that he could’ve extended it to the end of July and looked at it again then.”
If things can fully resume in September and the season begins, Radcliffe isn’t sure about the timeline.
“I don’t know if we’re going to start playing games on Sept. 1 or if we’re going to have a little time, a couple of weeks or so, to scrimmage,” he said.
“I would prefer that we get time to scrimmage.”
