Coronavirus starts to affect Idaho’s high school sports schedule, too
Two hallmarks of the Idaho spring sports schedule were canceled Thursday, and two more state meets were postponed out of caution due to the coronavirus.
The Buck’s Bag baseball invitational and Win the Pitch (WTP) softball tournaments both planned to bring 36 teams to the Treasure Valley for the annual spring break events. But organizers canceled them.
“It was really in the best interest of the student-athletes, the coaches and the fans to cancel, just as a precautionary measure more than anything else,” Vallivue Athletic Director Tony Brulotte said.
The Idaho High School Activities Association also postponed the state debate and cheer championships until further notice, it announced Thursday night. The state debate meet was this weekend at Boise High, while Nampa’s Ford Idaho Center was set to host cheer next weekend.
The statewide all-star basketball game at North Idaho College was also canceled Thursday, the school announced.
The Buck’s Bags Invitational planned to bring 36 baseball teams to the Treasure Valley, including teams from throughout Idaho and five from Oregon. It would have played at seven host sites March 26-28.
The WTP Tournament would have brought 36 softball teams to the Boise metro area, including one from Oregon and one from Nevada, to play at four host sites March 27-28.
District Three Softball Commissioner Ted Pettet told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday afternoon that no other games have been canceled or rescheduled as of 1 p.m. District Three Baseball Commissioner Shannon Bryson was not immediately available.
Jon Ruzicka, the activities director for the Boise School District, said his district has not made any decisions yet on future athletic events.
“We are looking at these on a case-by-case basis, with the current Idaho case knowledge,” Ruzicka wrote in an email.
Idaho does not have any confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. It’s one of eight states without a confirmed case, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The West Ada School District will not travel out of state for any extracurricular activities through the rest of the school year, West Ada Activities Director Jason Warr said in an email. It will continue with all scheduled events inside Idaho unless an opponent is not able to play.
The Nampa School District has suspended all out-of-state travel for athletics, activities, conferences or any district-related events through April 30, Nampa Assistant Superintendent Gregg Russell wrote in an email to the district’s staff and parents Thursday afternoon.
The Kuna and Caldwell districts have done the same, according to a release from Allison Westfall, communications director for Kuna schools — with Caldwell saying its suspension would run through Aug. 1.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Idaho High School Activities Association has made no plans to suspend or cancel its spring sports season, said Mike Federico, an assistant director with the IHSAA.
Federico said, unlike other states, the IHSAA has not received any recommendations from the governor or the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to postpone events.
“At this time, we are holding off until we get more information,” Federico said. “We want to be fact based more than anything. But it could change in the next hour.”
Colorado, which has 34 reported coronavirus cases, suspended all spring high school sports until April 6. That includes all practices, a state speech tournament and a music festival, according to a news release on the website of the Colorado high school sports governing body’s website.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 2:10 PM.
