This was the spring in Baldwinsville where lacrosse teams were set to defend their respective Section III Class A titles, where baseball pitcher Jason Savocool was supposed to dazzle on the mound before ascending to the college and professional ranks, and where track athletes, tennis players and golfers would make their own championship pursuits.
But none of it happened, an entire season wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools across the state closed in mid-March, just as tryouts and practices were about to get underway. Gradually, hopes for any kind of season flickered away as the number of infections and deaths climbed at the local, state, national and worldwide levels.
On April 27, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association canceled its slate of state championships. Four days later, governor Andrew Cuomo announced that schools would stay closed for the rest of the academic year.
Not having a season created a challenge never before faced by B’ville’s group of spring sports coaches, who have done their best to maintain contact with their players while, at the same time, boosting their spirits in a dark period.
Matt Wilcox was set to coach the boys lacrosse Bees as it looked to follow up on a 2019 season where it won the sectional crown and advanced to the state semifinals before an overtime defeat to Fairport. He said the whole sequence of events hurt, particularly for the 16 seniors on the varsity roster.
This has been a very difficult time for everyone in our program but especially the seniors,” said Wilcox. “They are talented lacrosse players but more importantly amazing young men. This senior group was really excited to get back this season.”
Instead, what Wilcox and his fellow coaches did was gather his seniors together each Friday in a Google Chat video conference to both talk about the week’s events and go over lacrosse topics, even if they were unable to practice or play.
The intent, said Wilcox, is to continue those chat and incorporate not just the underclassmen on the varsity team, but also junior varsity and modified players. At the same time, the coaches would send out workouts related to lacrosse, made more important by the fact that most players, while having plenty of equipment on hand, don’t have a net at which to shoot.
A larger group of athletes sidelined this spring in B’ville was the boys and girls track and field team, which was slated to include more than 200 sprinters, distance runners, jumpers and throwers.
Boys track head coach Bill Spicer said that he would use technology to stay in contact with as many of his athletes as possible. His Google Meet sessions would draw, on average, 75 of them.
In return, some of the kids would send along videos or pictures of themselves working out while maintaining social distance, whether it was runs on the streets or their home gyms.
But Spicer also pointed out that, in general, the reaction of his team members reflected the unease felt everywhere else.
“The seniors are in disbelief,” said Spicer. “I think that, for them, in a few weeks it will hit them with more severity. The younger kids also want to be out there, but they have other years.”
Most of all, said Spicer, he would miss the interaction, fun and sense of getting something done.
“They know, after a tough workout, that they’ve accomplished something, and it’s great to see them grow in character and set goals for themselves,” he said.
