For the seniors on Sedona Red Rock High School’s basketball teams, the difference between Friday, Jan. 8, and Tuesday, Jan. 12, wasn’t simply four days.
It was night and day.
On Friday, the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s executive board voted 5-4 to cancel the upcoming high school winter sports season. Following a great deal of outcry, pressure and a MoveOn.org petition, the board decided to meet — and ultimately vote — again, on Tuesday. Flowing Wells Unified School District Governing Board member Jim Love changed his vote, opting to support having a season. With the other eight members all voting the same way, that one vote flipped the decision.
The SRRHS student-athletes who were saddened by Friday’s vote had a much different attitude as they gathered for practice on Tuesday.
The seniors, in particular, were thrilled to have one final season.
“After Friday getting that news I think all of us were really sad for the past few days,” Jaiah Grondin, a senior on the boys basketball team, said. “Then we heard there was going to be a revote and we watched it and when they said yes, it was amazing. It does suck to play in a mask but whatever is necessary to have a season and have fun one last time.”
The masks will be a challenge. During the fall sports season, participants were required to wear masks at all times, except when they were active in a game. Now in the winter, masks will be required at all times. Basketball is the lone winter sport at SRRHS. Other schools in Arizona have wrestling and soccer, as well. None of those sports are particularly conducive to masks.
When the Scorpions basketball teams gathered to practice on Tuesday, they did so with masks on for the first time. It’s safe to say that it will take some getting used to.
“It was awful — it was like breathing humidity and swamp,” said Joey Johnson, a senior on the boys team. “It’s awful but it is what it is. As long as we get to play ball, it’s all that matters.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes just to play,” added Lesly Suarez, a senior on the girls team. “I wear my mask eight hours at school every day, so I’ve gotten used to it. I’m sure that running around with it won’t be too hard, either.”
While the masks will be an obstacle, Tuesday’s meeting also generated good news, beyond just simply having a season.
The AIA announced that “up to two parents or legal guardians may attend their student-athlete’s home games as allowed by the school and county guidelines.”
This is a deviation from what was expected even before the initial decision to not have a season was made, when it looked like no spectators — even guardians — would be allowed.
“I know my parents love to watch the games,” Johnson said. “So to hear that they can still come, it’s just awesome.”
“It’s nice,” Johnson’s teammate and fellow senior, Jamie Alagna added. “I’m glad the parents can come to the games. Obviously for us it’s our senior season. So for our parents to get to watch us for one last year, it’s nice.”
One of the prevailing sentiments among AIA executive board members is that winter sports were going to take place, regardless of whether the AIA sanctioned the events. Some teams were going to go forward with games. Other students were going to play club basketball. By having a season, the AIA has a lot more control in placing and enforcing COVID-19 protocols.
That was an opinion shared by SRRHS athletic director and boys basketball
coach Pedro Ortega Sr.
“I think by letting us play, the AIA did the right thing by having some type of control over this,” Ortega said. “It seemed like a lot of teams were trying to play club. When you do that, you go out and nobody is going to monitor them, there’s no type of control. You get sick [with COVID-19] and bring it into your home and school. It defeats the purpose of all that we’ve been doing.”
When Friday’s news broke, many of the student-athletes at SRRHS were trying to figure out how they can have some sort of a season.
Now that the season has been reinstated, the Scorpions are refocused on not simply having a season but making it a successful one.
“Be on the lookout for us,” Suarez said. “I know what we’re capable of and I know that we’re going to finish strong and that everything will go well despite the circumstances. Our team and our program, the boys too, have faced a lot of adversity with quarantine.I know that we’re up to something good right now.”
