Jump to content

COVID effect on wrestling numbers?


base

Recommended Posts

Let's say society is somehow able to get back to "normal" sometime this summer.

 

How much will the perceived threat of close contact in wrestling affect our numbers in the fall?

 

Coaches - are you formulating a plan to screen or otherwise setup steps to avoid someone bringing it into the practice room?  If it hasn't already happened, I think it would be a good idea for coaches to brainstorm some standard suggestions/guidelines for best practices in this area

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, base said:

Let's say society is somehow able to get back to "normal" sometime this summer.

 

How much will the perceived threat of close contact in wrestling affect our numbers in the fall?

 

Coaches - are you formulating a plan to screen or otherwise setup steps to avoid someone bringing it into the practice room?  If it hasn't already happened, I think it would be a good idea for coaches to brainstorm some standard suggestions/guidelines for best practices in this area

Pretty sure that we won’t see summer wrestling. Lots of states are extending stay at home orders until June. 
 

For college wrestling, they are all praying for football to kickoff this season. If there is no football, you WILL see lots of colleges going the Old Dominion route. As I see it... that’s may be the biggest impact of this pandemic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mattyb said:

Pretty sure that we won’t see summer wrestling. Lots of states are extending stay at home orders until June. 
 

For college wrestling, they are all praying for football to kickoff this season. If there is no football, you WILL see lots of colleges going the Old Dominion route. As I see it... that’s may be the biggest impact of this pandemic. 

High schools also need football season. It is crucial to their athletic budgets. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mattyb said:

Pretty sure that we won’t see summer wrestling. Lots of states are extending stay at home orders until June. 
 

For college wrestling, they are all praying for football to kickoff this season. If there is no football, you WILL see lots of colleges going the Old Dominion route. As I see it... that’s may be the biggest impact of this pandemic. 

100%.... going to be some tough times 

 

10 minutes ago, Y2CJ41 said:

High schools also need football season. It is crucial to their athletic budgets. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mattyb said:

Pretty sure that we won’t see summer wrestling. Lots of states are extending stay at home orders until June. 
 

For college wrestling, they are all praying for football to kickoff this season. If there is no football, you WILL see lots of colleges going the Old Dominion route. As I see it... that’s may be the biggest impact of this pandemic. 

 

The NCAA and athletic conferences are wise to postpone making a decision about football. They need to wait as long as they can before making the decision. Same is true of high schools. However, I can tell you the fear within the PAC 12 is that a few schools might pull the trigger early on this decision (prematurely in my estimation) in which case it will cause a snowball effect forcing the rest of the conferences hand.

Edited by SunDevils
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our biggest threat is the timing of the season, Nov-Feb is prime time for cold, flu, and virus season as soon as covid #'s start to pop up I feel they will shut us down mid season I don't know if there's a lot we can do about that. I'm a grade school coach and fully intend on telling my parents if the kid is sick he can't be in my practice. Beyond that maybe temp checks at the beginning of practice??? I'd need a bunch of coaches and probably 15 minutes extra to get them all done. Of course that won't do anything to stop the ones that don't have any symptoms but are carrying. I see very tough times ahead for our sport, not to mention the financial side of things for smaller schools or programs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Ahawkeye said:

Our biggest threat is the timing of the season, Nov-Feb is prime time for cold, flu, and virus season as soon as covid #'s start to pop up I feel they will shut us down mid season I don't know if there's a lot we can do about that. I'm a grade school coach and fully intend on telling my parents if the kid is sick he can't be in my practice. Beyond that maybe temp checks at the beginning of practice??? I'd need a bunch of coaches and probably 15 minutes extra to get them all done. Of course that won't do anything to stop the ones that don't have any symptoms but are carrying. I see very tough times ahead for our sport, not to mention the financial side of things for smaller schools or programs.

I’m thinking that we may have a vaccine by then (early next year). Vaccines typically take years to develop. With that said.... multiple human trials have already began. Some Pharma companies are rolling the dice and are staring or will start to produce the vaccine prior to approval in the hopes that it will be effective and approved. Let’s all hope and pray that these companies that are fast tracking the vaccines come through. Maybe Mr. Jones @indypharmd could add to this. But... getting a vaccine is the only way that our contact sport will make it.
 

With all of that said, again.... no football equals no money to run college programs and most Olympic sports. Wrestling and many other sports will be cut at the college level. As far as high school... I don’t see schools cutting sports. We may have to do more fund raisers, but we will make it. 
 
Don’t want to bring politics into this, but unfortunately this whole pandemic is being severely politically exploited. This idiot politicians can’t help themselves in An election year. If certain people get elected this fall, the whole direction of this whole crap show will change. So.... who knows!!!! This is all opinion based on real news not “fake news”. What happens in November will have a huge effect on our season. 

Edited by Mattyb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mattyb said:

With all of that said, again.... no football equals no money to run college programs in most Olympic sports. Wrestling and many other sports will be cut at the college level. As far as high school... I don’t see schools cutting sports. We may have to do more fund raisers, but we will make it. 

The bad thing about these fundraisers is that companies and individuals that usually give money are hurting so it will be harder to solicit funds from people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I fear this could fundamentally change the way we do things. Couldn't any time someone is sick potentially be a huge deal? The regular seasonal flu tore through our school more than once this past school year. It even shut down a couple local schools during the winter months. Nothing to this extent, but any time you have people in close proximity you're going to run the risk of spreading infections of all sorts. And any time masses of people are getting sick all at once, the risk of truly severe illness rises...This has the potential to impact large groups and contact sports the way that the 9/11 attacks affected air travel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Galagore said:

I fear this could fundamentally change the way we do things. Couldn't any time someone is sick potentially be a huge deal? The regular seasonal flu tore through our school more than once this past school year. It even shut down a couple local schools during the winter months. Nothing to this extent, but any time you have people in close proximity you're going to run the risk of spreading infections of all sorts. And any time masses of people are getting sick all at once, the risk of truly severe illness rises...This has the potential to impact large groups and contact sports the way that the 9/11 attacks affected air travel.

My opinion is that it will truly depend on what the actual death rate is and who it is really affecting. The flu has a death rate of about .3 percent. If with all the testing that is being done we find out this also has a death rate of about the same as the flu do we still keep shutting things down because it is new and there is no herd? Right now it looks to be hardly touching our youth unless that have major immunity issues so the real risk comes with the older and at risk population. If we can find some form of treatment that lowers the death rate down even more and we are able to test quickly and isolate I think that is our best chance. But.... I get what you are saying, at this moment if the stigma is the same or worse than it is right now it will take one person at one big event for all teams to have to isolate. Until the perception changes and steers more towards the flu, which I think it probably will, things may be rocky this coming year. We just have to wait and see what comes out.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, aoberlin said:

My opinion is that it will truly depend on what the actual death rate is and who it is really affecting. The flu has a death rate of about .3 percent. If with all the testing that is being done we find out this also has a death rate of about the same as the flu do we still keep shutting things down because it is new and there is no herd? Right now it looks to be hardly touching our youth unless that have major immunity issues so the real risk comes with the older and at risk population. If we can find some form of treatment that lowers the death rate down even more and we are able to test quickly and isolate I think that is our best chance. But.... I get what you are saying, at this moment if the stigma is the same or worse than it is right now it will take one person at one big event for all teams to have to isolate. Until the perception changes and steers more towards the flu, which I think it probably will, things may be rocky this coming year. We just have to wait and see what comes out.  

There were five people that died that all attended Sectional 10 basketball at Lawrence Central. Whether they all got it there or not hasn't been determined.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/04/18/coronavirus-indiana-5-die-after-attending-sectional-10-lawrence-central-paul-loggan-jim-desalle/5151038002/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Y2CJ41 said:

There were five people that died that all attended Sectional 10 basketball at Lawrence Central. Whether they all got it there or not hasn't been determined.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/04/18/coronavirus-indiana-5-die-after-attending-sectional-10-lawrence-central-paul-loggan-jim-desalle/5151038002/

That sucks. Like I said if we can find some kind of treatment that lowers the death rate and we can test quickly. It has been shown that CoVid has been running unnoticed as early as January and we didn't pick up on it until late February. If these 5 people contracted it and all went to the same game I would be interested in the study that shows how many people actually got it. I am not saying this isn't dangerous because it is. But we left it unchecked for a long time and we have no herd immunity or vaccine to it and we have only been guessing at how to treat it. I am just saying there are things that can change in our favor and I am hoping for them. Personally I say we just call next year a leap year and do nothing educational or sports wise. Up the age limit for a while and come back strong in 2021.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish the state's governing body or the NCAA would at least say that before a sport can be dropped for financial reasons, the team has to be given an opportunity to raise the needed funds before just being given a death penalty.  Many times it seems that AD's operate in secret to cut programs that could have been funded if the coaches had been given an opportunity.  I could see the same happening in high school.  It is complete BS but not sure how it is stopped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What are some ideas that could be implemented at wrestling matches (dual or tournament) that would show good faith towards avoiding any infection?  I think it would be great for the IHSWCA to brainstorm ideas and publish some tips for coaches statewide

 

- Screening of temperature @ weigh ins

- Hand sanitizer pump stations in gymnasium for audience members

- Liberal use of sanitizing chemicals to clean mats

- A note sent home, or discussion from coach at beginning of year to parents outlining how wrestling practice room will be cleaned, and what other precautions are being taken to keep their student healthy

- Statistics kept showing detailed record of how many IHSAA wrestlers (no names, just numbers) have been confirmed with Covid in-season.  My hope is that this would be a positive measure to show the lack of numbers.  If it is other case, then I think the numbers are still useful although disappointing

- Tape on bleachers to mark off space between seated groups, or to block off entire rows so audience isn't right on top of each other

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, doctorWrestling said:

I wish the state's governing body or the NCAA would at least say that before a sport can be dropped for financial reasons, the team has to be given an opportunity to raise the needed funds before just being given a death penalty.  Many times it seems that AD's operate in secret to cut programs that could have been funded if the coaches had been given an opportunity.  I could see the same happening in high school.  It is complete BS but not sure how it is stopped.

 

In the case of colleges, the NCAA doesn't drop a program, only in extreme circumstances (and even then Penn State football just faced numerous sanctions). Side note: Title IX is one of the reasons Penn States football team did not get dropped because if they would have dropped the football team then 80 scholarships for female athletes would have also been removed. They can issue postseason bans and even limit the number of scholarships but they do not drop a program.

 

Also, coaches and athletes at programs that are smaller typically realize they are on a year to year shoe string budget since most college football programs operate in the red, not the black, despite what the NCAA would lead everyone to believe. Additionally, at the college level fundraising occurs every single year (and if you pay attention to your undergraduate/graduate universities call campaigns, realistically every quarter). A last ditch effort to fund raise and save a program on the fringe for one year is like utilizing a band-aid when stitches are absolutely necessary. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until this whole situation happened I never realized how "paycheck to paycheck" college athletics was.

 

For high schools losing the spring sports probably didn't hurt much as at best they break even. If we lose part of football I could see some schools looking for fundraising or pay to pay type scenarios for this year until they can get some more revenue streams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, SunDevils said:

 

In the case of colleges, the NCAA doesn't drop a program, only in extreme circumstances (and even then Penn State football just faced numerous sanctions). Side note: Title IX is one of the reasons Penn States football team did not get dropped because if they would have dropped the football team then 80 scholarships for female athletes would have also been removed. They can issue postseason bans and even limit the number of scholarships but they do not drop a program.

 

Also, coaches and athletes at programs that are smaller typically realize they are on a year to year shoe string budget since most college football programs operate in the red, not the black, despite what the NCAA would lead everyone to believe. Additionally, at the college level fundraising occurs every single year (and if you pay attention to your undergraduate/graduate universities call campaigns, realistically every quarter). A last ditch effort to fund raise and save a program on the fringe for one year is like utilizing a band-aid when stitches are absolutely necessary. 

Most D1 colleges make the vast majority of there annual athletic budget work with football money. Most get some sort of tv money also. I’m telling you guys. If some D1 schools don’t bring in that money for football. Wrestling and other non-money makers will take a hit. To keep thing even, they may have to cut a girls sport also (to keep title nine compliant). I hope I’m wrong. But... would not be surprised to see a few programs shut down. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Mattyb said:

Most D1 colleges make the vast majority of there annual athletic budget work with football money. Most get some sort of tv money also. I’m telling you guys. If some D1 schools don’t bring in that money for football. Wrestling and other non-money makers will take a hit. To keep thing even, they may have to cut a girls sport also (to keep title nine compliant). I hope I’m wrong. But... would not be surprised to see a few programs shut down. 

 

As someone who works for a major institution and has worked for many major institutions trust me college football money for a vast majority of institutions is fools gold. If it were not for profit sharing from conferences most programs even within the BIG 10 and 12, as well as the PAC-12, and ACC would not be operating in the black. Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska football are carrying more than just their own programs. They are carrying the entire B1G with Indiana and Michigan State basketball both contributing a lot financially. The only conference in football where a majority of their college football programs operate in the black is the SEC. 

 

Programs that were already on the fringe of being cut, or considered being cut, will now likely be cut if there is a delay in the start of the football season.  Or substantial revenue lost from people unwilling to fill the stadiums. 

Edited by SunDevils
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, rookie78 said:

Fox Sports Radio, a couple weeks ago, was talking about how Power 5 conference schools play their "cupcakes" during football.  The payout the cupcakes get, according to Fox Sports Radio,  pretty much finances a majority of the sports that they carry. 


And those pay outs come from the Conferences and TV networks- not from the universities. A delayed football season, would mean less revenue generated among conferences. Which means less profit sharing between each team in the conference. And “cupcakes” (or small schools with less resources) as well as major universities with programs on the fringe financially would be forced to stop. However, the good news is, as of right now, the PAC 12 only foresees a delay in practice schedule and condensing pre-season workout programs. Which means football season theoretically is on course to start as planned in the Fall. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.