LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Brent Thompson is used to being out in the August heat with his team suited up in helmets and pads right now, but the North Hardin football coach has instead had to deal with a different type of discomfort this offseason: uncertainty.
"We control what we can control," Thompson said. "If today's our last day, we're going to make it our best day."
That has been his message for his students — and himself — during a summer leading up to a football season that will feel the effects of the coronavirus pandemic that had shut down sports back in March.
"It was tough to look at our kids yesterday knowing when they left that it might not be the same the next day," he said. "And that was tough."
Thompson got the news he wanted Thursday when the Kentucky High School Athletics Association Board of Control voted to keep the schedule it had proposed back in July. The board voted 16-2 in favor of having competition start on Sept. 7 for fall sports competition, with football kicking off September 11. Organized team activities are scheduled to begin August 24.
"Our kids have done their part," Diocese of Covington Superintendent of Schools Mike Clines said. Our kids have done their part for healthy at home. Our kids have done their part for healthy in the community and our kids have done their part for healthy in the state."
During the virtual meeting, the board considered two options that would push the season back to at least Sept. 28. Gov. Andy Beshear had requested schools keep students out of the classroom until then, though several school districts have gone ahead and had students return to school.
The two votes against came from Jerry Wyman and Marlon Miller, who both work for JCPS. Kentucky's largest school district still needs to approve its fall sports plan and Superintendent Marty Pollio had said at a previous board meeting he would support pushing the fall sports season to the spring.
"We have kids out there who have asthma and who have other issues that may keep them from participating at the current time, and they may have parents or grandparents that are raising them that have comorbidities and they may have to make a choice not to play," said Wyman, JCPS' director of athletics and activities.
The plan still needs to be approved by the governor and the state health department, but Thompson said this was a good step towards playing ball.
"We're going to keep going until they tell us not to go," he said. "We're going to do what we're supposed to do. We're going to follow the rules. If we have to mask up or limit our contact like we are right now, no contact and no helmets, that's what we're going to do."
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.