The summer months are important for any high school sports program looking to improve.
Not only are programs preparing for the upcoming fall seasons, but winter and spring sports use this time as well. The summer is normally the time Gilmer High holds its youth camps.
Youth camps serve as an important fundraiser for some sports and are vital for community relations. Coupled with the economic implications of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Gilmer High athletics are making adjustments.
“We’re looking at all things, and I think we knew early on that a lot of what we generally do fundraising wise was going to be down this year,” said GHS wrestling coach Josh Ghobadpoor.
Football coach Kevin Saunders said, “I miss not having the youth kids around with what we did last year. Our camp was a real success. We were expecting to have even more this year and that hurt (not being able to have a camp). I’ve been trying to promote and have been working with Kevan White down at the rec department to get them out there.”
The GHS wrestling camp is more for instruction, getting mat time and improving. It is not used as much for fundraising as youth basketball and cheerleading camps. However, Ghobadpoor anticipates coronavirus’ economic impact will force them to alter their schedule.
“The ones who are probably really going to struggle with this are our community sponsors because everyone has been hit hard economically,” he said.
“What we’re looking at is changing our schedule. There are a couple events we go to like the Bradley County Invitational (in Tenn.) and Jackson County Invitational and they are some of the best tournaments in Tennessee and Georgia. We’re going to replace those with say a dual-type tournament.”
Omitting both tournaments this season will allow wrestling to save “around $1,400” with the elimination of lodging costs, according to Ghobadpoor.
Aside from the financial situation, Ghobadpoor only has one assistant after Charles Higdon and Scott DeGraff took jobs at Sequoyah and Chestatee high schools, respectively. Former GHS assistant Brent Berry moved down to coach at Clear Creek Middle School.
In previous seasons, Gilmer often sent its top wrestlers to a varsity tournament while junior varsity and female wrestlers attended different events. That will not likely be the case this season.
“With (only having two)coaches, we need to go to more events where we can have the varsity, JV and girls together,” Ghobadpoor said. “This year, we’re in that unique position where we need to keep everyone closer together because of our coaching situation and our funds.”
Unlike football and wrestling, cheerleading is heavily dependent on its youth camp. Missing out on hosting 90-plus campers will be felt.
“I’m concerned because that camp funds a lot of what we do at state,” coach Naomi Esparza said. “It pays for choreography and a lot of miscellaneous expenses for our spirit girls. Not being able to have that is really going to affect what we’re able to do at state and what we’re able to treat the girls with throughout the year ... some things that aren’t a necessity, but things that help with team building and team experiences. It’s going to hit us pretty hard.”
While sports have been permitted to meet for conditioning, they can cannot practice. For cheerleding, that means no choreography or installment of this season’s routine, which takes place annually during June.
Esparza noted the Georgia High School Association may adapt the season’s schedule to ensure cheerleaders have time to prepare.
“That’s definitely something we’re looking at,” Esparza said. “Penny Pitts is sort of over GHSA cheerleading and she has altered the requirements for state. Only two competitions will be required this year in order to give people more time to prepare.
“I want to make sure the girls are ready and not rush into anything. My biggest concern is making sure they’re ready.”
GHS basketball hopes the absence of youth camps will be offset by their inability to attend camps of their own. In most summers, the Lady Cats travel to camps in Florida while the Bobcats made their way to Tennessee.
“The boys and girls usually get about $8,000 from our tip-off club to go to camp,” said boys coach Jordan Hice. “Since we’re not going to that, we’re hoping to offset what we would normally make from the kids camp. That’s usually about $4,000 that comes to us that we spend on the (high school) kids for uniforms, practice gear and equipment.”
Hice’s greatest concern lies with the Bobcats not being able to play. They usually play around 30 games over the summer in addition to exhibitions during the spring.
“The biggest thing is none of the freshmen are getting any court time,” Hice said. “They’re not learning any plays and that’s a big downfall. It’s going to be hard to figure out where we’re at come season time because we’re losing so many summer games. They usually also play all through the spring on the weekends.”
Hice is keeping an eye on the GHSA to see if it allows winter sports to start preseason practice earlier than years past in attempt to make up for lost time.
“I’m hoping the GHSA takes into consideration we missed an entire summer of practice,” he said.
“Hopefully, those ones who aren’t playing other sports in the fall will be able to start practicing basketball so we can start putting stuff in.”