Uncertainty plagues high school wrestling during pandemic

The wrestling team at Gig Harbor High School finally returned to safe, socially-distanced practices in early August.

But after parents raised their concerns, those team meetings shut down indefinitely.

“And that was for general weight lifting on the turf field, keeping everyone at a social distance,” said Gig Harbor wrestling coach Jacob Spadoni. “But there’s no way to control who rides in whose car, who gets a ride in which car, who hangs out after. So we decided not to do it, just to keep kids safe.”

If there is a word to describe high school wrestling for the upcoming athletic year, it’s uncertainty.

With wrestling practices slated to begin Dec. 27 -- and meets scheduled for January -- there’s no telling how the WIAA and school districts alike will be forced to adapt to the ongoing pandemic and its unpredictable twists and turns.

The plan, for now, is an eight week abbreviated season that falls within season two of the WIAA’s rearrangement of high school athletics.

In a high-contact sport like wrestling, however, coaches are still awaiting word on what will be allowed for workouts during a coaching-only period starting Sept. 28.

It’s a period where teams can meet and train (if adhering to social distancing and other safety guidelines) as both Peninsula and Gig Harbor High Schools have elected not to participate in the first season of the WIAA’s newly-formed sports calendar.

“Having a wrestling practice, per say, I don’t think that’s going to be on the table,” said Peninsula wrestling coach Gary Griffin regarding the coaching-only period. “We could probably meet and work out and do something wrestling-specific stuff. And that’s the idea, to get guys together.”

Spadoni and the Tides wrestling team, however, hoped to gauge the progression of social gatherings and school reopenings to predict the likelihood of traditional practices.

Schools, though, have yet to reopen.

“That was going to be our test,” Spadoni said. “What happens when school comes back? [But] there’s no schools in the area that are going in. Even South Kitsap changed [Sept. 1st]. They elected to go online and reverse their decision to meet in person.”

For now, Spadoni plans to send out general, non-specific workout plans for his wrestlers, many of them multi-sport athletes.

“I really would like to see wrestling still happen and figure out a way to keep kids safe,” Spadoni said. “Again, (there’s) just not a lot of information out right now on what I’m able to do with my kids other than individual home workouts.”

With no certainty for wrestling this year, the South Sound Conference will need to battle obstacles and jump through hoops to make the season a reality.

As safety concerns jump out as most troubling, problems remain unsolved concerning physical contact between competitors and spectators in gymnasiums.

“We’re in close contact with each other for six minutes sweating on each other,” Spadoni said. “That’s a big issue.”

Both Peninsula and Gig Harbor plan on prohibiting fans from attending athletic events throughout all sports, and wrestling teams will act strictly on who is present for wrestling meets to keep the already-minute attendance numbers down.

Spadoni says that larger tournaments are unlikely until the end of the year when teams cut their rosters.

“We’ve done it before,” Spadoni said. “I’ve been to a bunch of tournaments locally that can do it. If it happens, we’ll be able to stream live for all of our events.”

Even if the wrestling season stays afloat through February, it would only take one team’s abandonment of the regular season to disqualify the entire conference from postseason play.

It comes down to more information on a vaccine for COVID-19 and how teams can protect their wrestlers in a high-contact sport, Spadoni says. Teams are currently exploring face-shields and cold-weather masks on chin guards, but at the point of physical contact, traditional face masks would likely serve as insufficient.

“As a high school sport, going through and testing every single kid every week or so… we just won’t have the means to do it,” Spadoni said. “And that’s what you see at the professional level. … The most we can do is temperature checks and health screenings.”

Peninsula and Gig Harbor both plan on making a run at the conference title.

Senior and team captain Andrew Boden headlines the Seahawk wrestling team after qualifying for the regional tournament as a junior. Emmett Casey, the younger brother of now-graduated and reigning state champion Nolan Casey, also helps make up the Peninsula squad.

Gig Harbor plans to roll out a “big three,” composed of upper-weight seniors Simon Atwell, Will Crissman, and Will Weymeyer.

“We graduated a really powerhouse senior class in 2019,” Spadoni said. “But we definitely want to keep building on what we’re doing. We’re still bringing in consistent numbers of kids. We’re still building and getting bigger as a team, and I am 100% confident that with all of the work these kids are putting in, coming in every single day and just building a better culture for wrestling at Gig Harbor, that we will eventually be that powerhouse program I envision it to be.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 6:00 AM.