It’s been more than six months of uncertainty, waiting, wondering, anxiety, Zoom calls.

Now, it’s time to celebrate.

High school sports are back in Arizona, with football, the last of the fall sports to start, kicking off its season this weekend.

The COVID-19 pandemic derailed the spring sports seasons, and, on any given day, can derail a team this fall.

But coaches, athletes, administrators and parents are persevering through with a cautiously optimistic attitude and a smile on their faces.

On Sept. 2, when the Arizona Interscholastic Association approved updated guidelines from its medical committee that would allow for the football season to start, many parents, players and coaches felt a huge victory.

“It was easily the best day of 2020,” said Brad Schweigert, whose son plays quarterback for Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep. “There has been a lot of uncertainty and anxiety in the Arizona football community, but the announcement put all that behind us and paved the way for high school football to return in our state.”

It’s been a long, winding, twisting road back since COVID-19 shut down Arizona, closing schools and stopping sports in March. Without a vaccine, there still are certain storms to weather, potential cases forcing teams to quarantine and miss games.

Everybody has been hit in some way by the virus, whether it’s been the fear that causes anxiety, the unknown, the trepidation that suddenly turns into celebration.

Nothing is normal any more.

There is masking. Social distancing. Limited crowds. Maybe no crowds. No student sections. Stringent sanitizing.

But it’s something, and it’s giving a semblance of order and peace, a way to alleviate stress.

The athletes

When infections were making Arizona one of the world’s biggest hot spots in July, there was more gloom than anticipation of any kind of fall season. The the pandemic erased the entire spring season already, and now things were getting worse.

Hospitals were filling up with COVID patients. Positive tests had reached around 20 percent statewide at one point. Gov. Doug Ducey was forced to reimpose business closures, after he had lifted initial restrictions in mid-May. Mask rules became more widespread.

Nobody was thinking about when fall seasons would start. People were wondering, ‘Will there be any sports?’

Then, in August, the numbers started to get better. The downward turn continued into September.

“Since August, it’s been an emotional rollercoaster,” Phoenix Pinnacle senior football player Alec Bernardo said. “There were people making decisions and as players, we had no control over the future of our season.

“First, our district didn’t think we should play, then the AIA set metrics that wouldn’t allow us to play. Now, finally, it’s like breathing a sigh of relief. There is no way to explain how it feels to be back on the field with my teammates and coaches knowing we are going to play this season. It means everything, I am so grateful.”

While most schools in the Valley were in their second week of official football practices, players from the Phoenix Union and Tolleson Union districts were on their own, finding ways to get their football fix.

During one Friday night in late August, Tolleson, Avondale Westview and Laveen Cesar Chavez players met at Friendship Park in Avondale to play 7-on-7 and battle in a Big Man competition.

Those school districts had yet to commit to having a fall football season.

It was exhilarating and yet frustrating.

“It hurts our heart, you know?” Tolleson senior quarterback James McElhenny said at the time. “It’s keeping us away from playing the sport we love. It’s not something you want to feel.”

Now, after Tolleson last week committed to play a fall season, McElhenny is thankful.

“Getting the go-ahead to get back on that field was truly a blessing,” he said. “Not being able to practice took a toll on most of us. We went from, ‘Can’t wait for senior year’ to, ‘Are we even gonna have a senior year?’

“Keeping us away made us stronger and kept the team tight. We work everyday to get the chance to play at the next level.”

Back in July, Scottsdale Desert Mountain volleyball player Rylee Achtzehn didn’t think anything would be played this fall when the spike in cases became alarming in Arizona and the motivation to work wasn’t there.

“In July, we weren’t even allowed to be in the gym, so to be able to play almost a whole season is beyond exciting for our team,” she said. “It gives us something to work for and keeps us motivated.”

When Avondale Agua Fria began swim practices in August, only three boys and eight girls came out.

Senior Nadia Kostic, who swims in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly, said last year there were 20 to 30 competitors on the Agua Fria swim program. COVID-19, she said, kept many away.

But Kostic couldn’t wait to get back in the pool.

“I honestly feel very happy that there is some normalcy in my life,” she said. “To be able to swim every day and compete as a team, it makes a big difference.”

There are no spectators at the meets. That served as motivation in pre-COVID seasons.

“There’s no way of piping in noise,” she said.

Senior sprinter Joey Vormelker said the small group of swimmers at Agua Fria has made them closer this season. For a long time this summer, he didn’t think there would be a season, but he would swim repeatedly back and forth in his 10-foot-long backyard pool to be ready.

“There are new procedures,” he said. “We’re trying to adopt and learn. But being in the water and being able to race, that’s where my happy place is.”

Golf is one of the sports that was allowed to continue statewide all summer by the governor. But during competition, things remain different. 

Seniors golfers Lauren Garcia and Mary Beth Doss of Xavier both welcome being on the course, even under different circumstances.

“Bonding has been a little difficult because we can’t do as much team bonding as we did last year,” Garcia said. “But it’s been alright.”

Doss added: “At the very beginning when we were only online and golfing, I thought it was nice to get out of the house and do something.” 

The coaches

This is a scary and triumphant time for coaches, who have learned to adjust on the fly, to treat each day like it’s the last time they get to lead athletes, and to make sure nothing goes astray.

It’s a tightrope they walk every day they wake up. But at the end of the day, they rest their heads on their pillows and smile that they get to wake up to another day with a team to lead.

“For some of our runners, this has been the only interaction they had all summer and into the fall,” Anthem Boulder Creek cross-country coach Thomas Clarke said. “As a coach, season plans have taken a backseat to making sure we have a season and doing our best to be there for our athletes.

“We are happy for every meet we can run, but we are trying to drill in the point, ‘No safety, no season.’ “

Cross-country runners are asked to wear masks. Parents can come to watch their children run, but they also need to wear masks.

“Cross country isn’t exactly the way we remember it, but wearing masks, social distancing, no awards ceremonies, and changing the race formats a little are a small price to pay to allow these student-athletes to get back out there doing what they love,” Chandler cross-country coach Matt Lincoln said.

The Arizona high school swimming community was hit hard in July when beloved Chandler coach and bagpipe player Kerry Croswhite lost his battle against COVID-19 not long after Father’s Day.

Mesa Desert Ridge swim coach Brock Harr kept reminding his athletes this could end at any moment, and “what we are doing now is a gift.”

Harr said that a co-worker and Croswhite were two people in his life who died because of complications from the disease. He said a family friend spent 120 days in intensive care because of COVID-19.

“That individual is still experiencing difficult side effects from the disease and his life has been forever changed,” Harr said. “When the beginning of swim started, I used this experience with the disease as an example to show some kids who knew of no one infected by the disease, and had the mentality that since they did not know anyone infected, that the disease is somehow not as harmful.

“When the topic of wearing the masks came up, I made it clear that the city of Mesa has set protocols that need to be followed, and any violation of these protocols may impede our privilege in using the pool for practices and meets. It’s difficult to get kids to follow rules, but when you have examples like I have, it’s hard to debate protocols such as wearing a mask as foolish not to follow.”

Phoenix Pinnacle swim coach Eric Goldstone said the pandemic ignited in his program an all-time high for attendance.

“Kids seized their one opportunity to get out of the house, be active, and see their friends,” he said.

But it’s been quite a bit of maneuvering through the pandemic during volleyball workouts and matches at Phoenix Horizon for Hall of Fame coach Valorie McKenzie, who coaches remotely to protect her husband, a heart-transplant recipient.

Coaching virtually, she said, has been supported by her administration.

“We have had Google meetings together as well as an outdoor meeting to set goals,” she said. “I continue to run the entire program as before with practice times, facility use, program, booster, and team meetings, transportation and all other needs of the program. 

“I run practices with my assistant at the gym and myself at home with two computers and a practice plan written out for the coach and athletes. I have a live-stream overhead and one courtside that I can communicate with the athletes throughout practice.  It was a stressful start and now is running much more smoothly as my assistant, Joelle Smyth, is doing a great job.

“I coached the scrimmage versus Chaparral as the strict protocols of no crowds and all masks were in place.  Now that the rules have once again changed and crowds are allowed, I am newly forced to coach away games virtually.  My boosters have set up a courtside live-stream and I will be in communication on the bench with one of my assistants as my varsity assistant leads the team in person.”

Still, to adapt to have a season, makes it worth it, McKenzie says.

“This pandemic has impacted everyone in so many ways,” she said. “However, at Horizon, we all look at this opportunity to play high school sports with gratitude. We are grateful for all that have worked together at so many levels to make this happen and are willing to give and take at every turn to continue successfully. 

“We must stay accountable and disciplined. If we waver in that and become cavalier in protocols with the numbers being down, then we will see things turn around in a negative way and may miss the opportunity to complete our seasons.”

The parents

Desert Mountain volleyball coach Dana Achtzehn, father of Rylee, a Southern Utah commit, kept his team and daughter moving even during the darkest days of the pandemic with a mindset that there will always be a season.

With two parents per participant allowed into games to watch, Dana Achtzehn was grateful to have spectators.

“Being a parent of a player, I understand how much joy comes from watching your kid compete,” he said. “For the seniors, it might be the last time their parents get to see them play.”

A Facebook page began in September with a parents group supporting the return to football. The group sent a letter to the AIA board members and members of the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, asking them to adjust what they felt was an unrealistic community spread metric of 10 or fewer infections per 100,000 people so that their kids could play.

That recommended number was raised by the SMAC and approved by the AIA board in September, allowing for a football season.

Still, the Tolleson Union district wasn’t ready to move forward then.

Jim McElhenny, the father of Tolleson quarterback James McElhenny, was ready to be part of a rally outside of the Tolleson district office, before TUHSD decided to play football on Sept. 18.

“They had so many good days and bad days, wishing and hoping they could play football,” Jim said of the players. “I just feel good for them. They could have quit. They could have given up. They stuck through it. it all worked out.”

The prospects of not having a season struck an unbreakable bond among teammates, he noticed.

“I was talking to another dad about the bond they carried the last couple of months, keeping each other positive,” Jim said. “It will be a lifetime bond.

“It’s like a weight off your shoulders. My son sounds happier, like himself again. Not just the football kids. But for volleyball and everyone else. We want everyone to play.”

Andrew Brown, whose son Devin is the quarterback of the Queen Creek football team, was ecstatic to finally see “a payoff” for what amounted to a 10-month offseason with the first game on Friday.

“There’s been a lot of emotional highs and lows,” Andrew Brown said. “It’s been great to see their general demeanor change from stress and angst to pure excitement and giddiness.”

Schweigert realizes there’s a long way to go to complete a modified eight-game football season. And to keep it from going off the rails, he knows parents have to do their job.

“As a community, each of us must continue do our part to help limit the spread of COVID, mask up and socially distant whenever possible,” he said. “It’s my hope that the Arizona football community continues to unite together for this cause and get these players successfully through the entire season.”

The administrators

This is a tough call for so many. Play through or not, even during a time when students aren’t allowed in the classrooms?

Reservation schools throughout northeastern Arizona called off fall sports during the summer when there seemed no end in sight for the momentum the pandemic was building on the Navajo, Hopi and Apache lands.

Most of the southern Arizona schools are following guidelines from the Pima County Health Department, with football teams still waiting for the green light to play games.

Randy Ricedorff, athletic director at American Leadership Academy Gilbert North, who is also the head football coach, said he is grateful that the charter school’s organization pressed forward during these difficult times “in full compliance and with great courage.”

“Leadership listens,” Ricedorff said. “Our parents wanted a choice. A small portion percentage-wise were not comfortable with the current environment and chose to stay home, while the greater majority wanted to be back in school and we provided that option.

“Yes, there were and still are plenty of challenges. However, I am confident moving forward that we will continue to work together to find solutions.”

Ricedorff calls all of the student-athletes at the 3A school “resilient.”

“They have optimistically worked through Zoom meetings when we couldn’t meet and have kept themselves in great physical shape,” he said. “In fact, last year we had three athletes make an elite weightlifting benchmark and this year we already have nine that have made it with several knocking on the door.

“What has been most impressive is their attitude. Our senior leadership has led by not showing signs of doubt or fear, but rather of the desire to be better prepared by working through the details of their specific position.”

Agua Fria district Superintendent Dennis Runyan said most important moving forward into the fall sports is to balance the safety of all coaches and players and those who work games.

“We have taken deliberate steps to delay and sometimes stagger starting practice procedures for contact sports while monitoring community metrics and advisories,” he said. “I know for all talented student-athletes, and particularly seniors, this has been life altering to see time without participation slipping away. We admire the effort of all  families to put wellness and health as a priority while we continue to transcend back to engaging in these meaningful athletic opportunities.”

Florence district Superintendent Chris Knutsen said it’s been a seven-month roller coaster, but he’s proud of how the kids and coaches have worked through COVID.

“I am happy the kids get to play, the cheerleaders get to cheer, and the band gets to play the fight song,” he said. “And parents get to watch in the stands.  It is going to be awesome.”

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

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