Kevin O’Brien laughed through the computer screen and interlocked his fingers behind his head as he leaned into the back of his office chair.
It’s a set of actions he’s grown accustomed to during the last year and a half. Between the Zoom calls, teleconferences and other meetings, the athletic director of Merrimack Valley School District is ready to move on from the rigidness and abnormality that has been brought on by COVID-19.
But come this fall, there will be some normalcy returning to his routine.
“Twenty-two of 22 Division II schools as of last Friday do not have any restrictions,” he said. “It’s as I like to call it ‘2019.’ ”
A return to 2019 means the return of fans other than just two immediate family members per athlete and no more masks – outdoors at least.
For the first time since the pandemic hit, the state’s governing athletic association passed on issuing guidelines to schools, leaving decisions at the local level.
“They are free to implement their own recommendations on the sideline and in the stands,” said Jeff Collins, the executive director for New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association.
The NHIAA traditionally has followed suit with what state officials have recommended in terms of guidelines and mandates as the pandemic has continued on. There haven’t been formal guidelines and or recommendations from state officials, nor as the NHIAA drafted up its own set of guidelines and thus the procedures have fallen on the schools.
“We’re in support of the best practice guidelines by the state of New Hampshire and are cautiously proceeding with the way we’ve ran sports in the past,” Collins said.
The association’s sit-back approach rings popular among its member schools as it is a nod toward how sports seasons have been traditionally run.
“I think that’s the right move,” Mike Desilets said. “The NHIAA has always given local control (to the schools) unless there’s been a state of emergency like we had last year. I think it should be up to the schools to put those (guidelines) in place.”
Desilets, the athletic director at Bow High School and president of the New Hampshire Athletic Directors Association, said that even though teams aren’t wearing masks, some protocols are still in place like athletes bringing their own water bottles and trying to socially distance as best they can.
With the lack of requirements and mandates, Desilets has seen a noticeably different atmosphere within the sports programs as the athletes are able to focus more on the given sport rather than following in-place procedures.
“It’s rewarding,” he said. “To know that we went through the entire year with minimal issues was nice, but it was really good to see them all back, it was quite rewarding for sure.”
In a meeting last week, O’Brien said all fellow Division II athletic directors were unanimously in favor of zero restrictions on outside sports this fall. Several schools were in favor of some guidelines for inside sports based on their school districts’ larger policy.
At Concord High School, its policies are in line with other area schools – to wear masks indoors and maintaining social distance in areas where the spread of COVID is considered substantial, based on recommendations from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Athletic director Steve Mello is confident that parents and the community as a whole will follow the guidelines as they’re similar to the ones from last season.
This summer, the girl’s volleyball team and anyone that has come into contact with the team on school grounds, both in the locker room and on the court, have been wearing masks, he said.
“From our experience from last year we are prepared for anything,” Mello said.
One of the key differences this year is that while competing, the girls no longer will have to wear masks – a policy that went back and forth last season.
Mello noted there aren’t any concrete plans to close things down, but with COVID still spreading in parts of the state and the possibility of a community-wide spike, the end of the season might look very different from the start.
“(We) just need to be prepared for change,” he said. “We hope that it’s going to change in a positive direction, but be prepared.”
The first set of fall athletic competitions began on Aug. 9 when bass fishing was able to compete. The next sport able to begin competition is boy’s golf, which st arts Wednesday.