The disruptions to our typical ways of life generated by COVID-19 and the strict athletic guidelines in New Mexico surrounding the disease have made their mark on all sports at St. Pius X High School.

St. Pius X is coming off 2019 4A state championships in baseball, volleyball and girls soccer. Its athletes earned a 2019 individual boy’s golf state title and a 2020 individual wrestling state title. With successful, committed athletes in all sports, SPX planned to advance its winning ways.

But the complete cancellation of spring sports in 2020 meant no baseball, golf, softball, track and field, swimming, rugby, tennis, dance and cheerleading — a blow to athletes, coaches, parents and fans.

In an effort to avoid cancellations and ensure students have the opportunity to participate in the sports of their choosing during the 2020-2021 school year, the New Mexico Activities Association created an amended, tentative calendar with later starts, shorter seasons and COVID-19 safety guidelines for practices and competitions.

The new calendar, as of this writing in September, begins with cross country, fall golf and volleyball starting Oct. 5 with state championships for cross country and volleyball in December. It moves the seasons for basketball, swimming and diving to January with March championships. Spirit state competition also will be held in March for dancers and cheerleaders. Soccer and football move to a February start with soccer championships in April and football’s final in May. Wrestling, baseball, softball, golf, tennis, and track and field move to April with state championships in mid- to late-June. Click here to see the full NMAA calendar.

“(I)t is not going to be normal, but our kids are going to be able to compete,” NMAA Director Sally Marquez said in July. “We’re still competing and that is the goal. We are going to raise the trophy up for our student athletes.”

“We want them back, preparing to play in the safest and most protective environment possible,” said SPX Athletic Director James Cook ’83. “We are fully committed to getting the kids out to fields and into the gyms.”

Coaches Prepare for Late Starts, Changes

SPX Volleyball Coach Jordan Russell said her state championship program has been very cautious during the summer to avoid exposure to and transmission of COVID-19, with girls working out on their own to keep themselves ready for a potential season. Beginning the first week of September, the athletes were able to reenter the weight room for in person workouts and some small group volleyball practice under COVID precautions. Those precautions for all sports included working in small pods or groups with a 5:1 athlete to coach ratio, mask wearing, and limited equipment use. Click here for more on the NMAA guidelines.

“This season may be different with the possibility of no fans, mask wearing while playing, and the 10 weeks to play,” Russell said. “My idea of this season is we will take all that we can get. We want to play and will follow any guidelines and regulations the NMAA and state ask us to. My girls will be ready because my staff and I have chosen to look at this season with positivity and putting our best foot forward when we finally get the chance.”

The SPX Athletic Department is working to add Pixalott cameras in the gym to live stream volleyball games over the internet if fans are not allowed. This live stream program will be made available through the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) program. The department also purchased an electrostatic sanitizer used to sanitize the training room daily and a One Screen GoSafe scanner to scan every athlete coming to workouts or practice for temperature and wellness check and to record check-in time. 

“The scanner has become a very valuable tool and we see extending its use beyond COVID,” Athletic Director Cook said.

Nurturing Athletes’ Mental Health

SPX Girls Soccer Coach David Sullivan, Jr. ’02 has had his mind on the mental health of young athletes during the isolation created by COVID-19 regulations. “It’s affecting each player differently,” he said. 

He organized weekly Zoom meetings of small groups of players to create the opportunity for players from the state championship team to talk about how they felt about the situation and the season. “We have to put thought into the mental health of these kids and what it means to compete,” Sullivan said. “Being an athlete is these kids’ identity. When you don’t have it, it’s a dangerous thing. They ask, who am I going to be now? They’re grasping at identity.”

Sullivan is working to keep his team tight as they anticipate a spring season. “Your team, in reality, it’s your community,” he said. “Even if you can’t play a game, essentially, you can still be a team and that’s important.” He’s working to keep things consistent, like a team shirt on the first day back to school, new hooded sweatshirts in October, and dressing up in a theme together for Halloween. 

“We are planning specific things that would normally happen until we’re actually playing a game,” he said.

When they do play, these Sartans are expecting great things from a talented and deep team looking to add another blue trophy to its nine since 1999. “We’re hopeful, if we can get on the field,” Sullivan said of a championship season. “The main goal is to play that first game. Then the goal will be the state tournament.”

A challenge created by the February start to the high school season is that it will conflict with the soccer club season, which many players participate in and rely on for college recruiting opportunities. “I have told my players, ‘I am willing to do whatever it takes so you can do both. If you can’t practice with us but can come to games, show up.’” Sullivan said. “These kids already are facing too much. They don’t need that decision too.”

Navigating Limited Workouts, Safety

SPX Boys Soccer Coach A.J. Herrerra ’99 said his program is working out details as the season progresses, dealing with social distancing in athletics and what teams are allowed to do on the field. 

“When I try to run and wear a mask, it’s difficult,” Herrera said. “We’re not ready to get them out there under the current circumstances. From a boys soccer standpoint, the number one thing that really dictates our decision-making is the safety of athletes. If that means we have to wait a little longer, so be it. We’re being patient.”

Herrera said that along with overlapping seasons with club soccer, other high school sports overlapping could also create difficulty for athletes who want to play multiple sports. 

“We’re going to have to work with club directors and coaches, high school coaches who are coaching other sports and multisport athletes; we’re all going to have to band together,” Herrera said. “Most important is what’s best for the athletes. If we can work together to play club, high school and other high school sports safely, we should. We may have to scale back because we don’t want to have injuries. There’s a balance to be met. We’ve got to be there for each other, and stay safe as we can to do our part.”

Facing a COVID-19 Infection as a Team

Football players conditioned in person in June and July under the NMAA’s COVID-19 guidelines — pods of four-to-five players and a coach, masked and at a 6-foot distance — and faced one COVID-19 infection. 

“I worried with the travel that was being done; I thought we’d have at least one case,” Montoya said. “I worried that if it didn’t go right it would be a bad situation. We did a good job making sure we were following protocols. We were set up with kids coming in once a week in groups of four with a coach to spread out the risk. When I was notified someone tested positive, only one day’s group had been exposed to each other and so we had to test four people. With the protocols NMAA set up, everything worked well.”

Practice was cancelled awaiting test results. Montoya said the frustration came awaiting test results as two tests came back negative within the week they were tested, one negative result took more than a week and the coach’s negative test took 13 days. “It was disheartening,” he said. “If one of them had tested positive, we would have to get others tested and it wouldn’t have helped to have the test result back so late.”

Montoya said he has appreciated the NMAA’s effort to provide leadership during this unprecedented time. “It’s great that the NMAA has been being flexible, positive, and with a mission of we’re going to play this year,” he said. “Without their leadership it would look very different in New Mexico. It gives us coaches the ability to go to the kids and say, ‘They’re gonna make sure we play this year.’”

At the beginning of September football players and other athletes had the opportunity to sign up for weight room and conditioning workouts, although this fall will look much different from their falls of the past. 

“I see how resilient they are; how positive they’re able to stay,” Montoya said. “They are frustrated and apprehensive, but they don’t show it. They are tough kids and have handed this exceptionally well. It’s such a disruption to this special time in their lives, but they’ve handled it well. It’s inspiring to see.”

“There are a lot of unknowns, and as coaches it’s imperative to find a way to be there when they need us,” Sullivan added. “The key is for us coaches to figure out a way to help our kids and their families. To make sure when kids go home, mentally they’re in a better place. My priority is to make sure all my kids are alive and healthy for whatever is next in their life.”