TSSAA Special Counsel On the Dead Period
The TSSAA Legislative Council met on Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. CST by web conference. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss this year’s Dead Period.
EDITOR’s NOTE: Ragged, raw audio transcript by Andrew Force. It was challenging and there are certainly errors, but this might help convey the dialogue and the content dissected. The speaker is listed in gigantic font, when it was able to decipher the speaker.
GEORGE
But we have all coached and we know that all the coach has to do is, ‘You go ahead and go and be with your family, but do understand that you will be playing catch up when you get back. You put the student athlete in a position they do not need to be in. That is one of the purposes ________
I think I muted myself. Probably the computer did it because it got tired of hearing me talk.
Bernard Childress
You can guarantee that if you change one part of the calendar now there will be other requests. If you see that precedent of changing…
That is why we have been , “Let’s wait.’
The pandemic is making the decisions right now as to how we precede in athletics If you change it, then you will need to decide what every sport is allowed to do during the two weeks. As far as our staff is concerned we definitely see both sides, but we do feel sports should never be put ahead of family.
We would lean to the side of, let’s let this play out and let’s see what happens. I have any had some coaches say they were going to wait until after the dead period anyway to start anything.
Unclear Who
I know there is something that is different for all of us. It is not simple subject to address. I want to go to the floor for comments.
Unclear
I have been getting contacted in District 9. I have been getting contacted by a lot of coaches asking about the dead period.
It is a situation where nobody has done anything the last three months. We had our kids out there this week, 8’ apart, coaches wear masks. It is very tough for us seeing other counties right down the road are not following any guidelines.
Then you have schools that are holding full practices. Their pictures are in the newspaper.
I think a lot of concern is…they said they strongly make suggestions. I am in a hot bed in Shelby County. You know that. But, if you go down the road there may only be 3 cases of CoVid-19.
It is a no-win for anyone. I know that. But, when several people e-mail me and call me and say, ‘Is there any way that we can look at this?’ I said, yeah. We can look at this.
Shelby County Keith Turner
I can’t tell you how many student-athletes came to me this week. They were so thankful just to be able to see their teammates. There is a lot of mental health out here that we are not even discussing about this. These kids
They have not had a safe haven in three months. They have a coach they can talk to.
I have been asked if they are going to let it up to the SEA to make the decision.
I called Dan and Bernard.
I think everybody is a pitcher/catcher as far as it relates to the preseason. (Jokes)
For a coach to be so petty to hold a kid back because they spend time with their family. As a super independent I would call a coach into my office and have a really serious talk about whether they need to be a coach in my district anymore.
Right now more than ever our people need to know what they can and can’t do. That makes it a lot easier for them.
I suspect it is a decision that once we make it, we will stand behind it.
Dan
I reached out to athletic 7 and I probably got 20 responses back from coaches, admins, director of schools. Pretty much every single one of them want to see something done with the dead period. Whether it be eliminating it, changing it, etc.
Autumn Cleveland.
I was to echo that as well. Hold on a second, I have an echo.
‘We may do weights. We may do not.’ Some people do feel as though they have not had enough to prepare. I hear a lot about football and injuries.
If we had this conversation, then I would never vote against the dead period (next year). I just think we have an obligation to allow local districts to make regulations regarding what they have put into place.
Childress
I think Dexter you said the same thing. We will let the
If the council goes down that road, then some are oding things and some are not. You all know as well as I do…if one county is doing it and one county is not, you know that is going to put pressure on you, the administration, and every one of the parents to say, ‘Why are they doing something and why are we not?’ Coaches feeling that they are getting left behind. We have always said, ‘You either do it or you don’t do it.’ That is one of those things we said we were going to set the ‘Week of the 4th for dead period and then let the schools decide the second week for themselves. They couldn’t even decide on the same thing in the schools. To me that will go down a road of chaos.
Unclear
I agree with Bernard. We need to do something that is definite and something that we will allow.
Greg at Siegel High
I sent out a form to everybody in District 4. 55 responses. It is about a 50-50 split on getting rid of or keeping it. The majority of the coaches I have talked to have said, ‘If we do away with it this year, they would probably take the dead period anyway.’
Through the time, I believe a lot of coaches have come to enjoy the dead period and I think it is something they look forward to. There are going to be people that are going to do the wrong things. I think a lot of coaches look forward to the time with their families.
@kasbigblue (Kenny Sholl) McCallie in Chattanooga.
It really was 50-50. There is another perspective too, that I would like to add really quickly. We have started conditioning and strength-training this week. No ball of any kind in any sport. Our thinking was that we were going to bring these kids back together. It would give us an idea how our process was working. If we did find that a student could contract the virus, then it would give us a 2 week off to control it. We could evaluate how we were doing (with conditioning under regulations). The feedback is that we don’t want any direct (mumbles).
Tom West TN
I think I might have had 1 or 2 to reach out about going ahead and removing the dead period. I will talk to the sentiments of the rest of them. And my sentiments too. Probably 6 weeks ago it would have been a really good discussion to have. Basically it is just 2 weeks before the dead period is a little late. I have heard from many coaches that have scheduled their vacations.
If we do remove the dead period and coaches don’t make the kids come in, then they are going to get it from their families (kid coaches). ‘Well, he has lost his edge.”
I think the state office made a stance that we are going to stick with the calendar. And when we relayed that to the families they went with that.
We would love for the state office to make a (clear determination). I told families that complained that ‘They made a stance on the dead period. You don’t like it and you want them to revisit it.’
For independent schools, it is a great discussion. It is a great way to look at it. Being Thursday and you have two weeks left of the dead period, not only throws the ddad period into wuestion, then it will be like, ‘What else in the by-laws should be change or look at?’ I think it is a bad road to go down.
Science Hill Keith Turner
I only had 1 school that was against keeping the dead period. Personally, I said it was a one-time thing.
Our regional directors are meeting every Wednesday and they are still trying to stay consistent with what we do. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t be in favor of removing the period at all.
QUESTION TO STATE OFFICE
On that motion, can we get an explanation on what decisions would have to be made IF that were to pass. What would come next? If we made that decision, what would have to be decided after that?
Childress
During the month of June we have always allowed that basketball could have 10 days of team vs. team competition. That is out this year, of course. If you start in July and then the governor lifts the competition, as far as, and said you can have some type of competition…you can guarantee that football coaches are going to ask if we can have 7-on-7. That is when they start, just after the dead period. If it is the last week of June, what are you going to allow as far as all of the teams are concerned? Are you just going to allow weight rain and conditioning? Are you just going to allow teams to do fundamental training as they are right now?
VOTE:
YES Keith Turner
YES Rob
YES Autumn
NO Greg Wyatt
NO Mark
YES Les Trotter
YES Dexter Williams
NO Stan Black
YES Mo Griffin
NO Kenny Shoals
NO Rob
NO Tom (lost connection) Voted thru text to Childress
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