The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. in a big way two weeks ago and the reverberations were felt into last week when schools in New York were shut down.

With that shutdown last Monday came a resolution from the Section IX Athletic Council on Tuesday, March 17 that there will be no scrimmages or games earlier than May 1.

The section council also indicated this can change to a later date depending on how the crisis unfolds.

The day before that, the section sent out another message imploring athletes to do their part and not treat the existing school closure as an extended spring break.

“Do your workouts ON YOUR OWN, stay in shape, go to bed at your normal time. We are doing everything we can to salvage a spring season; please make sure you can participate.”

Marlboro boys’ track coach Pete Carofano said he can’t mandate his athletes to do anything because that would mean they’re practicing, which is suspended right now.

“We’ve talked about stretching on their own a lot,” Carafano said, “Things they could be doing on their own so they’re in as good a shape as possible.”
Right now, he said they’re taking it week-by-week until school reopens. Right now, schools are closed through at least April 13.

The Wallkill Central School District closed earlier than anyone else as the district shut down on March 11 after someone who may have had contact with a student or Wallkill school district employee tested positive for the disease.

Wallkill was scheduled to reopen March 16 until all the schools were shuttered and that limited Wallkill sports, including the baseball team to only have two days of tryouts.

The Wallkill School District is closed through March 31 but could be closed longer.

The Wallkill coaches use an app called PLT4M, which bills itself as an educational fitness platform for high schools.

Wallkill baseball coach T.D. Mills said the system is designed for at-home work.

“Kids have an access code for that,” Mills said. “I sent them individual stuff to do on a daily basis. Some of the guys have sent videos. They don’t need to post it on Twitter. They just send it to me.”

With reality sinking in last week, athletes also were able to work out on their own if they took precautions to keep themselves safe, especially maintaining the social distancing requirements of staying six feet away from each other.

“The most important thing they can do is if they do something physically, it should be by themselves and safely,” Carofano said.

While the runners can keep running to keep themselves in shape, it’s a little bit different for baseball or lacrosse players who need more space.

“We have specific stuff we do in practice with tee work and soft-toss work that they can do on their own or do with their parents,” Mills said.

Mills said there are plenty of things baseball players can do where you don’t need anyone else. Mills said there are plenty of drills where players just need a tennis ball and a wall to bounce it off to work on their reflexes.

They can also work the mental aspect of the game.

“They can read a book about baseball,” Mills said. “They can watch videos about baseball. There’s a lot more where they can improve the mental game.”

They do all that in the hope that the spring season will happen. So far, the state has not decided on the fate of the spring season and no decision is imminent.

“School will come back, and sports will come back,” Carofano said. “Right now, it’s about taking care of health and family.”