While some worry about an impacted season, Day focused on the 'today'
COLUMBUS, Ohio – As we continue to move through the unknown of day-to-day life under the cloud of the COVID-19 scare, there is a great concern with when life will return to normal, or at least what the new normal will be. A new normal that will certainly include sports, even if we don’t know when that will be.
Among the cancellations across the sports world was the postponement of spring practice in terms of college football. Something that the Buckeyes had only gotten through three installments of before a scheduled spring break period that would have normally seen the other dozen occurring upon returning to campus.
That return never happened as schools went to distance and virtual learning, sent students back home and facilities closed.
As more and more Americans are tested for the Coronavirus, there is no real idea as to when a resumption of events will take place. There are some hoping that Easter might mark a major date in a return to normalcy, at least in some places, while others are not as optimistic that we are that close to softening social distancing rules and shelter-in-place orders on a statewide level.
A worst-case scenario is always talked about, one that could see a delay, shortening or cancellation of a college football season. While that certainly seems to be extreme and a premature conversation, it is still one that is being had by many people.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day spoke with the media on Wednesday afternoon to go over a wide-range of topics surrounding his team and how they are adjusting to the current circumstances and the question was asked about his thoughts on any sort of interruption of the season.
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“I don’t know and for me to comment on it, I would just be ignorant to what is real and what is not,” Day said. “There are just so many scenarios out there. You can go down a lot of rabbit holes and until we know for sure, I feel like we are kind of wasting energy.”
Don’t mistake that for Day not being aware of the gravity of the situation across the world as countries struggle to find actions that will help ‘flatten the curve’ and keep residents safe while the medical community works on treatment plans and an eventual vaccination against this viral bug that is creating world history.
“Certainly (the interruption or loss of the season), it is a concern, it would be awful,” Day added. “But I am trying not to get far down the road, I am trying to just do a great job with today. I know that sounds cliché but until we start to know more, which I am hoping we do over the next two-to-three weeks at least to forecast it out, it is hard to get that far ahead of ourselves.”
Of course, there is the discussion of how things would look once there is a return to organized events and things of that nature. If it is a gradual resumption, Day spoke of potentially a model where small groups of players would be in the facilities at a time and while one group rotated out, another could rotate in. But that is all just hypothetical for now and there will be countless discussions as a team, as an athletic department and really even on a statewide and national level as things are put into place to keep citizens far from risk while not keeping the country shut down for the long term.
Is there a line in the sand, a date where we could be too far down the path for things to resume and not result in any sort of change to the structure of the season? While nobody is quite sure on that, the question was asked about how long Day would need to get his team ready on both a safety and performance level.
“I don’t know the exact number on that,” Day said. “(There) are probably some studies that need to be done on that. I think so much of that has to do with what kind of shape are they in before we get into pads. Do we have time with them before we start hitting? Or is it the first day that we get them that they go into pads?”
Again, more questions than answers.
“I think there is a lot that goes into that,” Day added. “It wasn’t all that long ago that guys reported to camp and we just got up and running, there really was no organized stuff in the summer. I think if we get that far, that is a conversation we will have to do a great job with.”
We will have plenty more of Day’s thoughts about this entire situation, the state of his team and much, much more. Keep it locked in here at BuckeyeGrove.com.