High school hoops in spring: Pierce County’s return to Phase 3 opens gym floors
High school basketball programs across Pierce County will return to their home gyms early next week.
Following Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcement Thursday that the county will move back into Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan, athletic directors from both the 4A South Puget Sound League and 3A Pierce County League made the decision Friday to move their remaining games back to their normal sites.
Both leagues — including 10 of the 12 schools from the 4A SPSL and the entirety of the seven-school 3A PCL — have been playing games in an open-air arena at the Washington State Fair.
Three courts were constructed at the fairgrounds earlier this week so both boys and girls high school programs could play out their seasons under Phase 2 restrictions. A move back to Phase 3 allows them to return indoors.
“The reality is we made the best decision for kids in the moment, and now there’s a better decision for kids in this moment,” said Curtis athletic director Suzanne Vick, who was one of the administrators at the center of making the setup at the Fair a reality.
“Ultimately as athletic directors, we work hard to serve our kids, our coaches, and this is the decision that’s in the best interest of them at this time. … If they can get back in their gyms and have some fans and get back to some semblance of normal, that’s great news.”
More than 50 games will have been played at the fairgrounds when play wraps up Saturday.
Both leagues will revert to their original schedules next week, with the 4A SPSL beginning play on Tuesday and the 3A PCL on Wednesday.
Both leagues could still host basketball games or wrestling matches at the fairgrounds if needed, and both plan to hold their culminating wrestling events at the venue in June.
“We’re very grateful that we even had the opportunity to come down here,” Wilson athletic director Johnny Lee said. “This was not just an SPSL and PCL situation, this was a county situation where a lot of parties from multiple cities were involved in making this happen for kids.”
“I think it brought a community together,” Vick said.
The 2A SPSL will also return home this month. The nine-school league opened its season at the Northwest Sports Hub in Centralia last week, and had planned to play the entirety of its schedule there before the move to Phase 3.
“We appreciate the Hub taking care of us,” White River athletic director Chris Gibson said. “They’ve been great.”
The league played its first round there Wednesday, including boys and girls varsity, junior varsity and C-team games.
“People were excited,” Gibson said. “The fans were excited. The kids were excited. It was just fun to see our kids play basketball again.”
The league is scheduled to play two more rounds in Centralia on Monday and Wednesday of next week before returning to home gyms on May 24.
This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 4:33 PM.
