DESPITE IMPACTS OF PANDEMIC, WAVERLY REC. OFFERING YOUTH SPORTS IN FALL, INCLUDING FLAG FOOTBALL (2020-08-14)
By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportWAVERLY - The Covid-19 pandemic has had a tremendously negative impact on nearly every facet of everyday life, and the Waverly Recreation Department has been part of the collateral damage, but director Dave Shaw says it will be offering village youths opportunities to compete this fall if allowed by the state.
"It's been a disaster for the kids," said Shaw.
"We have to do something for our kids," he added. "They have been put behind the 8-ball for the last four or five months."
Waverly Rec.'s cross country program, which typically fields 40 to 50 youths, will be off and running as planned this fall, but the tackle football season has been scratched, and the volleyball program's status is in limbo.
"We'll be able to do our cross country program because it's outdoor at the (Waverly) Glen," said Shaw.
"Volleyball is on hold because we can't use the gyms.," noted Shaw. "Our volleyball program, which we do at the high school with the varsity and JV volleyball teams ... we won't know anything on that until at least Sept. 21 when New York State makes a decision on fall sports."
Football, and the associated cheer teams, are the main attraction of the fall.
"The Southern Tier, and Northern Tier Youth tackle football leagues canceled their 2020 seasons, but I met with village trustee Andy Aronstam and we've decided we will be doing flag football here at Waverly," said Shaw.
"We're usually anywhere from 90 to 100 kids, and that includes the flag (first- and second-grade), the B level, which is third- and fourth-grade, and A level, the 5th- and 6th-graders," he noted.
"In previous years we had 85 to 90 cheerleaders. Last year, we were down to around 70," added Shaw. "We're going to do something for the cheerleaders this season, one way or another. We're still working on the details.
"You put the numbers together, and this effects 150 to 175 kids just in the football / cheer programs," he added.
Shaw notes that flag football will be a little easier to manage in terms of following state guidelines.
"It's 7-on-7, there are no huddles," he said. "You're not wearing equipment that has to be wiped down every day.
"We'll take temperature checks daily, and follow proper state guidelines," Shaw added.
Shaw said people are clamoring for the kids to have something to do this fall.
"All my (football) coaches have been calling me, the parents are calling me, and the kids at Little League are asking me about it," he said. "They really want to do something ... we really have to do something for the kids."
Shaw said the flag football plans are fluid at the moment.
"Hopefully, we'll get the same numbers we usually do, but there are no guarantees.
"We may have to do it strictly with Waverly kids, and if we do that, we'll go back to the Green Hornets, Golden Eagles, Red Raiders, and Blue Devils," laughed Shaw.
"We may have to split so that first-, second-, and third-grade are one division, and fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade are another division," he added. "It's all going to depend on numbers.
"We have kids from Sayre and Athens who want to play here," he added. "There's some red tape involved, though, so we're looking at all our options."
Shaw doesn't know which way Governor Cuomo will go on Sept. 21.
"If New York State cancels the high school football season, I could see us doing flag football for the junior high, and high school kids as well," he said. "I'm sure Jason Miller would be in favor of it.
"(Cuomo) may say we can play tackle football," noted Shaw. "If he says that, even though we're not in a league, we can go back to Small Fry Football days and have an in-house league.
"We're going to do whatever we can for the kids here in Waverly," he added.
MORE IMPACT ON WAVERLY REC."We've been able to do our summer concerts, but we haven't been able to do any senior recreation, like our adult open swim, and we weren't able to do our handicap bowling league because the Valley Bowling Center has been closed," said Shaw.
"We had 43 kids involved in our Summer Rec. program, which was held at the high school," he noted. "We typically have about 140 kids registered ... we don't get that many every day, normally it's 70-plus per day.
"We weren't able to do field trips or the pet show, or any of the activities we normally do," added Shaw. "The only thing we were able to do was swim for an hour-and-a-half each day at the high school, in conjunction with the REACH program. It was made possible by (Mayor) Pat Ayres, and Kate Pichany and Jackie Picco of the Waverly School District, but the driving force was Superintendent Eric Knolles."
Normal summer activities for the village youth were also canceled, including a new baseball program.
"We weren't able to do our softball program this summer," said Shaw. "We had 50 girls registered to play softball, and we couldn't play. We couldn't do it, with all the guidelines there were to follow.
"And we were planning to do what use to be called "Babe Ruth" through the Little League. It is a 13- through 16-year-old division through Little League.
"It wouldn't have cost us anything to participate, and we would have been able to compete at the District level, with a chance to advance to Regionals, and so on.
"It was canceled, so we lost that," added Shaw.
The overall impact on the recreation program is still not fully known.
"Last year, we had 2,031 kids from the Waverly School District involved in our youth programs ... some kids played as many as three sports," said Shaw. "About 70 percent of the kids from Waverly School District, in grades one through six, participated in one of our programs.
"This year's numbers are going to be way down because we weren't able to do anything in the spring, and who knows what's going to happen with the fall programs, and the start of winter programs.
"It's a drastic change for us," added Shaw.
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IN PHOTO: Waverly Rec. Director Dave Shaw.
