TOLEDO, Ohio — It certainly looks and feels a lot like football season out at Whitmer High School. They now have helmets and they’re back on the field practicing, but there are some major changes.
Coaches are all wearing masks, players are trying their very best to stay six feet apart throughout drills, but still, there is a cloud hanging over the football season right now. No one knows if we are going to be able to start this season on time.
“It’s tough,” said Whitmer head coach Ken Winters. “I’m an optimistic person so until they tell us we aren’t going to play, we’re going to continue to do what we always do. You just hope for the best, especially for the seniors. It’s beyond what I can do. I’m just going to listen to what they’re telling us and right now they’re adamant that they’re going to start August 1, so we need to get ready just like any other season.”
“You work no matters what,” said senior linebacker Kameron Vargas. “You just have to keep pushing and hope for a season. If we don’t have a season, that hard work you’ll put into next year, or you’ll just keep pushing to get (college) offers or promote yourself.”
The challenge right now is that football is a contact sport. So as a coaching staff, they’re working on a lot of new things in practice.
“This is the new normal,” said Winters. “I know you’re not used to it and they want to be on top of each other and they want to be giving each other high fives and we just can’t do that right now. The challenge has been to just educate them and just keep reminding them constantly that they need to keep the distance and get their masks on.”
“It’s kind of difficult,” said Vargas. “Football is always going to be a contact sport. You’re never going to get away from that, so, them trying to limit the contact is kind of weird to all of us.”
The OHSAA continues to say they are aiming for August 1 as the start date for two-a-days, but as we’ve all learned, plans can change in a hurry.