Buckle in. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
The funk still clings to my clothes. No amount of showers, deodorant or hand sanitizer will ever fully rid the scent of disgust I cannot escape.
As the publisher/editor/sports writer for The Graham Star, I would be remiss if I did not air my 2 cents on how the N.C. High School Athletic Association bungled the 2020-21 sports season.
While surrounding states maintained the "norm," North Carolina athletes sat idly by – victims of a pandemic that eventually led to a late start of shortened seasons across the board, limited spectator attendance and the stipulation that you could bump bodies in contact sports without a mask, but still had to wear on while on the sideline.
Right.
Surrounding states were in the midst of their football playoffs when volleyball and cross-country finally began in North Carolina. As such, several "firsts" were achieved and though an asterisk should be applied to many win/loss records, calendars and individual feats achieved during what will forever be remembered as the "COVID" season, the state athletic association will likely move forward as quickly as possible to the 2021-22 calendar. And they will have to, since workouts begin in just five weeks and the state track, baseball and wrestling championships were just crowned last weekend.
We were able to see spring football (!) and spring wrestling (!!) because of this pandemic. And even though, yes, we got the seasons in, athletes competed and championships were attained, the 2020-21 sports calendar ended in much of the same manner it began: an unmitigated debacle.
Last year, I had the honor of attending the second-ever statewide women's invitational. Held at Carolina Courts in Concord – a multi-purpose building, mainly used for travel volleyball and basketball tournaments – I suppose the state athletic association did not appreciate the importance of its second state women's-only tournament in history enough to secure a stand-alone facility, as the state's junior (middle school) wrestling's tournament was being held in the same building. On the same day.
Needless to say, it took just three hours for fire marshals to shut down the venue altogether, with wrestlers and spectators alike going from being squished into a building to standing in snow in Concord. One by one, we were allowed back in and, eventually, the action concluded.
I will give the N.C. High School Athletic Association a pass on this one, but not what happened June 26. Proving that $26 million cannot buy foresight, the association opted to hold both the 1A and 4A men's invitationals in the same high school.
Ok, stop. A state championship held at a high school? Yep, you guessed it: blame it on COVID. That would be fine, but the Greensboro Coliseum (capacity: 23,500, where the state wrestling tournaments are normally held) stood empty June 26, as did the PNC Arena in Raleigh (capacity: 19,772) and the Spectrum Center in Charlotte (19,077).
Instead, two classifications were tasked with squeezing into what has to be the smallest 4A high-school gymnasium in North Carolina: Glenn High School in Kernersville. Picture the capacity of Smoky Mountain Conference gymnasiums like Andrews and Murphy, and you get the idea.
Oh, wait! Glenn High School has an auxiliary gymnasium, with one side lined with short bleachers and, as an added luxury, no air conditioning! That should cover it, right?
Wrong. Oh, so wrong.
The third women's invitational – which saw Robbinsville's own Aynsley Fink capture the 106-pound state championship, a title she missed out on by falling in the finals at Carolina Courts last year – was also held at Glenn High School on June 19. With roughly 140 women's wrestlers, their coaches and supporters on hand, conditions were tight but manageable.
Multiply the number of athletes present for 1A and 4A (the largest classification in the state, for clarity) by more than double the figure in attendance June 19, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster.
The 1A bouts were scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. June 26 but that time frame was quickly thrown out the window when the 4A quarterfinals were still ongoing at 11:30 a.m. I want to commend Uwharrie Charter Academy in nearby Asheboro, which stepped up and offered to host the tournament on a whim. Desperate, state officials relented and everyone scrambled to make the 40-minute drive southeast.
The 1A tournament finally began at 3 p.m. and ended around 11:30 p.m., around four hours later than scheduled. All because the high school athletic association failed to learn from their mistake last year.
Wrestling continues to grow in popularity, and I am honored to cover a storied tradition in Robbinsville. The Knights crowned five state champions June 26 – despite the hectic disarray the tournament went through – and have six overall this year, counting Aynsley's victory three weeks ago.
Regulation is long overdue, concerning the N.C. High School Athletic Association. I, for one, applaud state legislators for finally looking into its method of operation, its sizable bank account ($26 million is more than the Atlantic Coast Conference – a college division – has in funds) and how it justifies pitting private schools, which can recruit athletes, against public schools in playoff situations.
Perhaps (read: fingers crossed) debacles like what occurred June 26 can be avoided with proper oversight and planning in the future. It is time to stop worrying about central-location, photo-op conveniences and instead, give sports back to the athletes that bust their humps all year – every year – to reach a state championship.
Kevin Hensley is the publisher/editor of The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, editor@grahamstar.com; phone, 479-3383; or on Twitter @KevinHensleyCNI.