Charlotte HS football team follows national trend: temporarily shut down by COVID-19.
BY LANGSTON WERTZ JR.
Providence Day School is pausing all football activities after a player was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Chargers athletic director Nancy Beatty told the Observer that one of the school’s players was tested this week after showing symptoms. The test came back positive Friday.
The school has begun contact tracing to determine if any other student-athletes might have been affected.
“Right now,” Beatty said, “we are pausing on all football activities until further notice.”
Providence Day (1-0) is scheduled to play at Charlotte Christian (1-0) Friday.
Providence Day, Charlotte Christian, Charlotte Country Day and Charlotte Latin have formed a four-team “bubble” for high school football, only playing games against each other. Each of the schools have adopted similar screening procedures during the pandemic, and agreed to play a three-game regular-season schedule, followed by a conference tournament on Oct. 30, where the two top seeds would play each other for the league championship and the bottom two teams would play for third place.
Friday will be the second of the three-game schedule. Charlotte Latin (0-1) will play at Charlotte Country Day (0-1) Friday at 7.
So if Providence Day could not play Friday, and assuming no other cases were found, the local schools could eliminate the league tournament and move back the regular-season one week.
The N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association playoffs are scheduled to be played Nov. 6 and Nov. 13.
WHAT’S NEXT AT PROVIDENCE DAY
Providence Day coach Chad Grier said the player who tested positive had not been at school since Monday. But he wasn’t sure what comes next.
“The kid hasn’t been at school and hasn’t been around any of our other kids,” Grier said, “so in that regard, I’m optimistic. I don’t know what’s going to happen. The Health Department makes those decisions. I sent a note out to the kids and said, ‘Until I’m told otherwise, I’ll prepare you guys the best I can for Friday night.’”
Grier said the most important thing, right now, was to protect the Providence Day players and their families.
“We have to do what’s best,” he said. “And we’ve been doing this since June 8 and we’ve proven we can do it safely. We purchased helmet PPE and done a good job with masks and distancing and wiping things down. We’ve not had any problems. It’s just unfortunate, especially for our seniors, who put so much into this, all the kids have, and it’s been hard enough as it is, but it’s part of the journey. You’ve got to be flexible and able to deal with sudden change.”
CAROLINAS SCHOOLS CAUGHT IN NATIONAL TREND
The pandemic has forced major changes to high school football schedules throughout the nation. Some Arizona parents publicly debated whether to intentionally hide COVID-19 symptoms among players to prevent games from being called off.
Two teams in Minnesota canceled their season-openers Friday after multiple players contracted COVID-19. And in the past two weeks, more than 50 games in Texas were canceled.
Some states, like North Carolina, have moved public high school football to 2021. The N.C. High School Athletic Association teams will begin football practice Feb. 8.
In South Carolina, where football is being played this fall, there have also been disruptions. In the Columbia-area, for example, 30 of 32 teams have had their schedules adjusted because of COVID-19 impacts at their schools or their opponents.
This week, seven games involving teams in the Columbia area were postponed. That included Blythewood’s game with Rock Hill, after several people affiliated with the Rock Hill program reported COVID-like symptoms.
BY LANGSTON WERTZ JR.
Providence Day School is pausing all football activities after a player was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Chargers athletic director Nancy Beatty told the Observer that one of the school’s players was tested this week after showing symptoms. The test came back positive Friday.
The school has begun contact tracing to determine if any other student-athletes might have been affected.
“Right now,” Beatty said, “we are pausing on all football activities until further notice.”
Providence Day (1-0) is scheduled to play at Charlotte Christian (1-0) Friday.
Providence Day, Charlotte Christian, Charlotte Country Day and Charlotte Latin have formed a four-team “bubble” for high school football, only playing games against each other. Each of the schools have adopted similar screening procedures during the pandemic, and agreed to play a three-game regular-season schedule, followed by a conference tournament on Oct. 30, where the two top seeds would play each other for the league championship and the bottom two teams would play for third place.
Friday will be the second of the three-game schedule. Charlotte Latin (0-1) will play at Charlotte Country Day (0-1) Friday at 7.
So if Providence Day could not play Friday, and assuming no other cases were found, the local schools could eliminate the league tournament and move back the regular-season one week.
The N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association playoffs are scheduled to be played Nov. 6 and Nov. 13.
WHAT’S NEXT AT PROVIDENCE DAY
Providence Day coach Chad Grier said the player who tested positive had not been at school since Monday. But he wasn’t sure what comes next.
“The kid hasn’t been at school and hasn’t been around any of our other kids,” Grier said, “so in that regard, I’m optimistic. I don’t know what’s going to happen. The Health Department makes those decisions. I sent a note out to the kids and said, ‘Until I’m told otherwise, I’ll prepare you guys the best I can for Friday night.’”
Grier said the most important thing, right now, was to protect the Providence Day players and their families.
“We have to do what’s best,” he said. “And we’ve been doing this since June 8 and we’ve proven we can do it safely. We purchased helmet PPE and done a good job with masks and distancing and wiping things down. We’ve not had any problems. It’s just unfortunate, especially for our seniors, who put so much into this, all the kids have, and it’s been hard enough as it is, but it’s part of the journey. You’ve got to be flexible and able to deal with sudden change.”
CAROLINAS SCHOOLS CAUGHT IN NATIONAL TREND
The pandemic has forced major changes to high school football schedules throughout the nation. Some Arizona parents publicly debated whether to intentionally hide COVID-19 symptoms among players to prevent games from being called off.
Two teams in Minnesota canceled their season-openers Friday after multiple players contracted COVID-19. And in the past two weeks, more than 50 games in Texas were canceled.
Some states, like North Carolina, have moved public high school football to 2021. The N.C. High School Athletic Association teams will begin football practice Feb. 8.
In South Carolina, where football is being played this fall, there have also been disruptions. In the Columbia-area, for example, 30 of 32 teams have had their schedules adjusted because of COVID-19 impacts at their schools or their opponents.
This week, seven games involving teams in the Columbia area were postponed. That included Blythewood’s game with Rock Hill, after several people affiliated with the Rock Hill program reported COVID-like symptoms.
