The South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors voted 9–0 yesterday to let its member schools play ball (and cheer, dance, make speeches…) this fall. SDHSAA’s has lots of shoulds and mays and encourages, but it doesn’t require masks of anyone—participants, coaches, or spectators. It forbids masks for competitive cheerers and dancers doing stunts (you tell me what’s more dangerous during a pandemic: aerial flips or masklessness).
The SDHSAA justifies its action with this statement on student well-being in its task force report, the sole sourced statement in the document:
A recent study by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (McGuine et al., 2020) examined the impact of school closures and sport cancellations on the health of adolescent athletes in Wisconsin. In the adolescents studied, 65% reported anxiety symptoms in May of 2020, 25% of which were in the moderate and severe category. Additionally, 68% reported symptoms of depression, compared to a historical baseline of 31%. Further, the study found a 50% decrease in physical activity in the athletes. As an overall trend the study found that the school closures and sport cancellations had a statistically significant negative impact on the physical health, psychosocial health, and overall health of the adolescents in the study. The study was replicated with adolescents from several states in the Midwest,with similar results. The sample size in South Dakota was too low to produce a separate report, but a summary of the South Dakota responses followed the same trends, in addition to findings that the increases mental health issues, lower physical activity, and lower quality of life were greater in counties with the highest poverty levels, indicating that the school closures and sport cancellations impacted adolescents from more vulnerable populations to a greater extent [SDHSAA task force report, in SDHSAA meeting agenda, 2020.07.22].
McGuine et al. 2000 appears to be a slideshow reporting a self-reporting survey, not a peer-reviewed research paper. The researchers recruited 3,243 young Wisconsin athletes via social media and e-mail to take their online survey. The sample pool thus does not compare athlete responses to responses of student journalists and actors (permit me to say that, had coronavirus ever canceled one of my one-act play contests, I’d have been mad as heck) or students who don’t participate in extracurriculars. The slides also do not indicate whether the survey questions can distinguish emotional stress caused by cancellation of extracurricular activities from stress arising from the cancellation of school, graduation ceremonies, prom, jobs, or family trips or fear of coronavirus itself infecting themselves and their loved ones.
Sure, not getting to go to football games can bum out jocks and fans. But you know what else can have a statistically significant impact on physical health, psychosocial health, and overall health? Catching coronavirus.
Having to call off school activities to prevent the spread of coronavirus appears to have negative effects on young people. The McGuine slides do not weigh those effects against the negative impacts of letting coronavirus spread unchecked. The McGuine slides simply acknowledge that they offer “No existing data showing the impact of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of Wisconsin adolescent athletes.”
Feeling depressed? Quit moping, be glad you’re alive, and take heart in helping to keep your grandma and other grandmas safe and healthy. Missing physical activity? Put on your shoes and go for a run.
Thinking about taking up the SDHSAA’s recommendation to open your stadia and gymnasia to players, fans, and visitors from other towns? Do a full cost-benefit analysis that weighs student exercise, public entertainment, and walking taco sales against the hospitalization and death of more of your neighbors.
The slideshow was made by the orthopedic and rehabilitation industry? Hmm. Seems like they have a financial interest in promoting interscholastic sports competitions. They profit from sports related injuries. No sports is bad for their business model.
Evidently the SDHSAA only needed to cite ONE source for this assignment. What kind of grade would you give them, Cory?
A joke. Schools in the city that that Wisconsin study comes from are going virtual and have cancelled fall sports. That study is not meant as a reason to override public health concerns
Two years of public service will make that moping go away and by then, the trump virus will be under control.
Interesting, Donald! One would think the Wisconsin schools would be as aware of this McGuine survey as anyone else, and they’re saying that the harms discussed in McGuine are outweighed by the harms of reopening?
I see just today the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association decided to delay the start of football, volleyball, and soccer to September 7. Superintendents surveyed overwhelmingly wanted to postpone fall sports to spring and spring sports to summer. Coaches were mostly opposed to delaying the schedules.
I think they are making one big mistake; if sports are so important as the academics (or more-so to some) the school boards should relegate them to lesser priority. That’s like trying to open up to “normal” too quickly after a shutdown or lockdown. Look at the price some of these states are paying for the faulty leadership of these ‘Red’ state governors/legislatures.
Yes. WIAA is not putting extracurriculars ahead of the health of students and their families and communities. Kids, though, can train on their own. Yeah, you have to have some self-discipline to do this, but there need be no dire consequences to student physical health.
As I do every year at this time, I see cross country kids out running. Most are social distancing within much smaller pods of runners. No big groups as usual.
How are debaters going to handle competitions? I suppose debate camps were closed this summer.
In SD, we all know Sports run the educational system. Don’t deny it, it does. Unfortunately, in this instance, it can lead to a lot of problems. Many are following the lead of mini-potus (Noem) and the kissing up to POTUS any way possible. This is just the start. Wait till the schools have to shut down again because of the spread. Choices and we’ll see who wins. or loses, depending on what you believe.
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It seems that WIAA has a more nuanced position that will allow some activities if they can be done safely. It’s all fluid.
There are always some students who stick with school solely due to the opportunity to compete in sports. I had athletes like that every year. They were usually students who came from low income or dysfunctional homes.
Sports was critical to their wellbeing because they provided a safe place where the child could have some success. Those students lacked the parental help and support early on that would have made them a better student and made classwork more enjoyable for them. Instead, it was a struggle. The kids fought through the struggle because they had to if they wanted the reward of the sport. Sometimes the coach and team were more “family” than they had before. (I’m referring to small town SD.)
Without sports I doubt these kids would succeed and graduate high school. When there are no sports or definite knowledge of when sports will return, mental health is a serious issue. It’s not just “moping around” and the kids need to pull themselves together.
These are students who even go on to college via athletic scholarships. Team sports especially are populated by young people who were rescued by athletic ability. It’s not an irrelevant topic.
All that being said, I do not support a return to high school sports yet, but I certainly do support programs to assist participants in dealing with their absence. It’s not a trivial matter.
Indeed, Debbo, it’s not trivial. It’s a result of a system and culture with warped values, in which we’ve made sports more important than academics for many participants, in which many parents think it’s o.k. to tell their kids that football is more important than chemistry and writing.
Of course kids will be depressed when we take away the thing we’ve instilled them as a primary value, just like I’ll be bummed if I have a heart attack and the doctor tells me I have to give up eating pizza. But the solution is not for me to go eat more pizza. The solution is for me to change my eating values and find other ways to obtain nourishment.
The country has a pandemic. It’s not safe to pack our gyms and watch team sports. Many people deeply value those sports events, but right now, they’re bad for public health. So we have to change our values, at least for a little way, and find other ways to recreate, exercise, and enjoy ourselves.
Donald mentioned self-discipline. That’s key for extracurriculars and the classroom now. Online education reduces the input and direct motivation teachers and coaches can provide. We have to find ways to inspire our kids to take charge of their own learning and training. We have to model that for them, demonstrate our own commitment to curiosity and fitness.