Is the NCHSAA talking about Wrestling?
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker: ‘I wish club teams would cease operations for few weeks.’
BY LANGSTON WERTZ JR.
NOVEMBER 16, 2020 10:25 AM, UPDATED NOVEMBER 16, 2020 03:20 PM
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/article247212346.htmlN.C. HIgh School Athletic Association commissioner Que Tucker thinks that club sports can have a negative impact on high school sports getting started -- and finishing their seasons.
Tucker spoke to more than 50 media members across the state, including the Charlotte Observer and News & Observer Monday morning.
“This is not to slam our programs that are outside of our school umbrella,” Tucker said. “Club teams have been playing all summer, on into the fall. Perhaps, if I’m a volleyball player or I’m hoping that we’re going to get our basketball season off and running, I need to make a commitment that I’m going to turn those loose, because I don’t know what those people are doing. I have a pretty good idea of what my teammates at high school are doing, so I’m going to let the club scene go. And I wish there was a way that our club sports right now would dial it back, would cease to do what they’ve been doing because we’re trying to play at the high school level.
“If I had a wish list that would be it: that the club sports would move into the background a little bit and let’s give our high school teams a chance to play.”
Throughout the fall, there have been football camps and combines as well as basketball and volleyball leagues, sometimes featuring high school teams playing under a different name and coached by someone not on the school staff.
“It is concerning,” Tucker said. “We don’t have authority over any of those programs. I know...club volleyball has been playing and they have not been wearing masks. I know it because parents put it in emails to me, that their child has been playing club volleyball all summer and not wearing masks. I’ve also seen instances where our high school students have been participating with those entities and as a result, we now hear about them perhaps having an outbreak.
“You just draw conclusions that if I’m a club sport volleyball player and we’re traveling out of state, well, I don’t know: Where did I sit when i was out of state? Where did I go and eat?...What did I do that perhaps put me at greater risk? If I had a magic wand and I could wave it and I could say to all of those outside club programs that are impacting our students here in NC who are trying to get sports going and trying to play some contest I’d wave that wand and have those club programs to cease operation for a few weeks.”
▪ Tucker said the realignment process is moving forward, and the NCHSAA Board of Directors has approved the current plan. She said the membership would receive more information about the next steps this week.
She said the timetable would evolve after Thanksgiving break.
▪ Tucker said while volleyball players must currently play in masks, the NCHSAA doesn’t currently have plans to make basketball players wear them once practices begin in December or games in January.