LEXINGTON — Scott Hamilton was in the gym when he found out and Lexington’s boys basketball coach couldn’t wait to share the news with his team.
He certainly wasn’t alone.
Coaches and athletic officials all across the region breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday afternoon when Gov. Mike DeWine announced in a televised address the lifting of all statewide COVID-19 health orders effective June 2.
“It was nice to be able to tell the guys that we will be fairly close to having a normal summer,” Hamilton said. “It’s really good news. As someone who had the virus and now has been vaccinated, I hope we will be able to move on and things will be getting back to normal.”
The past year has been anything but normal for coaches and athletic directors.
Football stadiums sat largely empty due to a state mandate that limited the number of fans who could attend a game to 15 percent of the fixed seating capacity or 1,500, whichever was less.
Things got even worse in the winter, when virtually every basketball, wrestling and swimming team lost practices because of a spike in COVID-19 cases and stringent contact tracing protocols.
The Madison girls basketball team played just 12 of its 22 scheduled regular season games.
“And we had more games than we had practices,” Madison girls coach Brian Davis said. “I think we were in and out of quarantine on four occasions.
“We’re excited to get back into the gym this summer. I’m not exactly sure what it will look like, but it will be a lot closer to normal than anything we’ve experienced in the past year.”
A lack of uniform statewide policies left most athletic departments to fend for themselves during the height of the pandemic. Athletic directors bore the brunt of the ire of communities suffering from COVID fatigue.
“We were lightning rods for controversy,” Ontario AD and baseball coach Jeff Fisher said. “We were left to create policy and enforce it when there were gaps. It was a rollercoaster ride, that’s for sure.
“We’re at a place now that … the data supports more activity. The vaccinations are helping and that’s great news for the entertainment sector, and that includes high school sports.”
Ashland AD Jason Goings said he is ready to turn the page.
“As a district we haven’t had time to meet and talk about it yet, but personally I’m excited,” Goings said. “Hopefully that means we’ll have a normal fall.”
