NSAA: fall sports to proceed as scheduled

CCS teams set to start practices Monday

Chase County Schools will officially start practices for high school sports Monday, Aug. 10.
The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) met Monday to discuss whether games would be held this fall. They released a statement July 20 that fall practices would begin as scheduled.
For now, NSAA said Tuesday “schools are encouraged to play their regularly scheduled competitions unless a COVID-19 issue prevents them from playing.”
If a school has a player test positive for COVID-19, they will contact their County Health Department regarding a course of action.
More information on the NSAA’s decision can be found at nsaahome.org/fall-season-guidelines.
“I appreciate NSAA for putting something out there,” CCS Activities Director Troy Hauxwell said. “No one has a perfect plan right now. The governor may come out tomorrow and ‘you’re done.’”
Hauxwell is thankful that CCS students have the opportunity for at least a semblance of extracurricular activities.
“I think our kids need something,” he said. “But health is a priority.”
“Everybody’s going to have to respect each other’s opinions” right now, Hauxwell added. “Things can change instantly. We should be appreciative of the opportunities we have.”
For summer conditioning and weightlifting at CCS, Hauxwell said students have been doing temperature checks, sanitizing and disinfecting equipment after each use and using as much social distancing as possible.
“It’ll pretty much be the same for fall,” Hauxwell said.
The Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (SWNPHD) announced last week that its area—which includes Chase County—would move to Phase 4 of the Directed Health Measures (DHM) starting Aug. 1.
That means most of the restrictions in the DHMs have been totally lifted, while others are eased.
For the Longhorns, two new head coaches will start their first seasons at CCS this fall.
April Lambert is the school’s new head high school volleyball coach replacing Samantha Kennedy, who resigned from CCS teaching and coaching earlier this year.
“Our girls are athletic, smart, competitive, energetic and supportive of each other,” Lambert said. “I believe we will have a very strong season as we continue to focus on fundamentals and we see a lot of growth each week.”
Lambert has 26 girls on the volleyball roster.
Their first match will be at home vs. Ogallala on Aug. 27.
Physical education teacher and former assistant football coach Nathan Gaswick will take the reins from Dan
Lenners for football after Lenners retired this year.
“We are optimistic that the state will find some way to organize and play games,” Gaswick said. “We just don’t really know what it will look like yet.”
He currently has around 30 out for the team.
The first scheduled football game at this time is at Chadron on Aug. 28.
Denise Smith will enter year 13 as head softball coach this season.
Smith isn’t positive on how many girls she will have on the field this season.
“I think we’ll have 16 total,” she said. “I’m just hoping to be able to play some games.”
The softball team will host Chadron on Sept. 18 for its opener.
Another veteran coach, Carl Zuege, is estimating 12-14 runners for cross country this season, with an additional three to four junior high runners joining them later.
“We have the advantage of being non-contact and we compete outside,” Zuege said, making social distancing easy to accomplish.
Zuege will start practices Monday at 7 a.m. and go until 9 a.m.
“If anyone is still interested they’re more than welcome to join us Monday,” Zuege said.
The cross country team will have a preseason meet at Dundy County on Aug. 27, with their first full meet at Cambridge on Sept. 4.

 

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