NFHS Voice: Nationally, Lost Spring Ends
May 8, 2020
By Karissa Niehoff
NFHS Executive Director
On Monday, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association became the 51st and final NFHS member state high school association to cancel its spring sports championships due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The cancellation announcements began in late March and stretched to early May as states made every attempt possible to conduct spring sports and other activity programs.
Driven by a desire to offer perhaps a few weeks of competition – particularly for graduating seniors – many states waited as long as possible to move from postponed to cancelled, ultimately forced to make decisions when schools were closed to in-person learning for the remainder of the academic year.
While the leaders of our state associations knew that spring activities could not occur if schools did not re-open, and that the health and safety of the millions of participants ultimately drove these decisions, having to make these announcements was perhaps the most difficult task they had experienced as state leaders.
“We are disappointed for the thousands of New Jersey student-athletes who will be unable to compete this spring,” said Larry White, executive director of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. “While we remained hopeful to the end, and left open every possibility, competition simply is not feasible given the circumstances. It has been a harrowing time for everyone, and we know our student-athletes are extremely disappointed. That said, these unfortunate circumstances may have put an intriguing challenge in the path of our young people. As New Jersey’s own Vince Lombardi once said, ‘It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up.’ We’re confident all our kids will get back up and stand tall.”
Rhonda Blanford-Green, commissioner of the Colorado High School Activities Association, showed her emotions in making the difficult decision in her state:
“This decision, unlike the many decisions our office makes over the course of a year, has been extremely difficult because we are personally connected as former participants and officials, current parents and grandparents of graduating seniors, as well as educators and members of our high school communities. Our hats are off to the many seniors who have shown maturity and resolve as their culminating year of high school has been impacted beyond activities and athletics due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The Class of 2020 will not be forgotten.”
Craig Anderson, executive director of the Illinois High School Association, said, “Our thoughts are with all the impacted students, coaches and communities, especially the seniors. It will be difficult for them to find a silver lining in all of this, but we stress that even if they don’t get the chance to compete again at the high school level, they are better for having been a part of their respective high school teams. They were exposed to life lessons in teamwork, leadership and overcoming adversity that are difficult to replicate elsewhere.”
What was at stake and who was affected by these cancellation announcements? More than 500 girls and boys spring sports championships in about 18 sports and involving about three million student-athletes. Along with multiple classes for both boys and girls in track & field, other sports affected this spring were baseball, softball, lacrosse, golf, tennis, soccer, flag football, boys volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, gymnastics, riflery, judo, Unified track & field and ultimate Frisbee. Also grounded were perhaps another million participants in band, choir, orchestra, speech, debate, robotics and other activity programs.
And last, but far from least, we remember the thousands of volunteers who make these events happen every year – ticket-takers, concession stand workers, booster club parents, meet officials and the leaders in communities throughout the country where these events were planned. We thank these individuals for their faithful service year after year, and we look forward to the day we are all back together again.
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is in her second year as executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS, which celebrated its 100th year of service during the 2018-19 school year. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.
Timeout to Appreciate Officials
September 23, 2013
By Kevin Wolma
Hudsonville athletic director
Wolma is in his third school year as athletic director at Hudsonville and previously coached basketball and golf. Below is a recent “30-second timeout” he wrote for the Hudsonville district newsletter.
We were five seconds away from one of the greatest upsets in the history of Caledonia basketball.
During the regular season, South Christian had beaten us by more than 30 points on two different occasions. The District Finals became the site for the third contest between the two schools on a warm March day.
We were able to slow them down just enough to stay within striking distance until late in the fourth quarter, when we finally took the lead for the first time. South Christian had one last chance with seven seconds left on the clock. After a timeout, they in-bounded the ball from the sideline and their player forced up a shot. I could see it was going to be short from my viewpoint, and my heart began to race with adrenaline as I could sense the impossible was going to become possible.
What happened next has stuck with me for the rest of my life, as one of the South Christian players pushed one of our players in the back, grabbed the rebound, and put the ball in the basket with one second left.
Game over. South Christian wins the District championship.
For the next eight years as a varsity basketball coach, I held a grudge against officials for that one call. Twelve years later, after I was done coaching, I went back and watched the game over again for the first time. I almost turned the video off when they in-bounded the ball in those last seven seconds because I did not want to relive that moment and the ensuing emotions that took place.
While watching I discovered something.
The South Christian player did not shove my player as much as I thought, and our players did not box out like I had thought, which made it easier for them to get the rebound and score. Looking back, did I even tell my players to box out during that last timeout before the ball was in-bounded?
At that moment it became very clear to me that what we see during a game may be clouded because we want our team to gain every advantage and every call in order for them to be successful. Perception is not reality. Officials are human. They will make mistakes just like the coaches and players do during a game.
There still has never been a game that has been decided by an official. Some people will say that the Class B Semifinal boys basketball game (in 2010) was decided on an official’s call when they ruled one of Forest Hills Northern’s player's foot was on the line on his last-second shot when in reality his foot clearly was behind the line. That call cost them a chance to play in the (MHSAA) Finals.
Coach Steve Harvey was quoted in the paper as saying, "We had opportunities to take care of the game before it even came down to that shot.” In the moment it seemed like that one play cost Forest Hills Northern the game, but there were over 50 possessions on offense and defense that preceded the play and potential outcome.
Having the opportunity to spend time with officials inside the locker room has made it very evident they are serious about their jobs and calling the best game they can. I have had requests from officials to have a monitor available to break down film an hour and a half before their contest begins to see strengths and weaknesses in their placement and mechanics from prior contests. I have had officials upset at halftime or after a game because they realized they made a mistake. I have had officials contact me personally after a game to apologize for a call made during the contest.
In the business world and also in education we use the word collaboration a lot. Officials collaborate before, during, and after every contest to garner more knowledge so they can continue to improve.
This is not even their full time job. Officials do what they do because they love the game and want to give back to the sport that made an impact on them.
The next time we are at a game and we think the officials missed a call, let’s take a 30-second timeout to gather our emotions so we do not say anything we will regret later. Instead let’s spend our energy cheering on our teams to be the best they can be.