Vermont high school sports are a go.
Dan French, Vermont’s secretary of education, announced in a news conference Tuesday morning that the state is moving to Step III of its Strong and Healthy Start plan Saturday, making that the first day games can take place between schools.
Directly after the announcement, the Vermont Principals Association sent out an email to athletic directors reaffirming the start of athletic competition.
Last week Vermont delayed the move to Step III, a surprise to many athletes and coaches across the Upper Valley who were expecting to start play Monday. In years past preseason practices and games would start in August, but due to COVID-19, the start of school was pushed back to Sept. 8.
Either way, athletes will have get the chance to play.
“Having the kids play, that’s the big thing,” VPA associate executive director Bob Johnson said in a phone interview with the Valley News. “I know people have been very frustrated by the process, but if you look at the calendar, we didn’t start school until Sept. 8. Now we’re going to start games two weeks later. People just want to play. The news today was great.”
For Hartford High athletic director Jeff Moreno, Tuesday morning was just a relief after last week’s disappointment. The Hurricane alumnus in his fifth year as athletic director said that minutes after the announcement, he was receiving text messages from his coaches and bus coordinator.
Moreno is now tasked with getting games back on that were scheduled for Saturday but wiped out because of last week’s decision. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Canes will visit Windsor for their inaugural 7-on-7 football game Saturday. They also will host a cross country meet that will feature Rivendell and White River Valley. The Yellowjackets boys soccer team will travel to Sharon.
Moreno will also be focused on fine-tuning the athletic department’s spectator policy, which is limited to Vermont’s cap of 150 spectators per event.
Hartford will require fans to wear a mask, and rostered student-athletes from both teams are allowed two will-call tickets. Any remaining tickets will be given out at the gate 30 minutes before the start of the event. Once the maximum capacity is reached, the gate to the venue will be closed.
“Oh my gosh … I probably won’t sleep Friday night,” Moreno said in a phone interview. “I’ll be up here, sitting in my Gator (cart), waiting for the first kids to show up.
“All along, they (athletes) have been handling this better than the adults. Coaches and myself, it just felt deflating. Kids are just so much more resilient than we give them credit for. I’m going to be able to watch them do what they love to do with the people they love to do it with.”
While the VPA has cleared the hurdle of starting competition, preparing for playoffs becomes the next.
Johnson said that the University of Vermont and Castleton University still haven’t allowed third parties to rent out their athletic venues, leaving state tournaments such as soccer, field hockey and football in a bind.
He’s hopeful that over the next month the VPA will be able to announce a more established picture of what playoffs will look like.
“That’s the next thing I get to work on,” he said, “And we’ll see how that turns out.”
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com.