Practice Begins Monday for 2020 Fall Sports Season

 Good news for high school athletes.  After a lengthy layoff due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the start of fall sports practice begins throughout Minnesota Monday, August 17.  

Practice will begin in football, soccer, volleyball, cross country, girls tennis and girls swimming.  

But things will be different this fall.  Due to the health risk of high contacts sports including football and volleyball, their respective seasons will be delayed until late March.  However, the rest of the fall sports can go on as scheduled but with reduced seasons. 

Looking at St. Louis Park's fall schedule on the Metro West Conference website, there seems to be a common thread with each of the fall sports.  No nonconference games are scheduled.  All games are against Metro West opponents.  

The first Oriole athletic team to open the season is girls tennis as St. Louis Park hosts city rival Benilde-St. Margaret's in a 5 PM match on Wednesday, August 26.  

On the 27th, both the boys and girls soccer teams begin their season in Bloomington against the Jefferson Jaguars with the girls game at 5 PM and the boys at 7:15 PM.  This is a change from previous years when soccer doubleheaders were slotted at 5 & 7 PM.  According to Brittani Schroeder, assistant activities director at St. Louis Park, the reason for the time change is that the stadium will be cleared following the first game in order to allow parents to see their sons or daughters play.  Get outside and cheer on these athletes but please exercise social distancing.  

Big Changes Coming in High School Sports

 Are you ready for spring football?  

That will be one of the changes the Minnesota State High School League approved at its August 4 Board Meeting when it decided to switch the football and volleyball seasons to early spring, starting in mid-March and moving the spring sports season into mid May and running into the summer.  

These changes were implemented due to the COVID 19 pandemic that shut down the spring sports season and made the fall season uncertain with the rising number of positive COVID 19 tests throughout the nation.  

But there will be good news for fall sports participants, coaches and fans.  The season will go one for soccer, cross country, girls tennis and and girls swimming but will be a bit shorter than usual.  The boys and girls soccer seasons will be reduced by 20%.  But will there be section and state tournament play?  

Looking at the St. Louis Park soccer schedules (where the author of this blog will begin his 25th season as the public address announcer), many of the nonconference games have been deleted.  How many will there be?  The MSHSL Board stated that teams should play only one or two games per week.

As the fall sports season has been settled, what about winter sports such as basketball and hockey?  Will fans be allowed to attend?  Will the seasons proceed as scheduled?  

Fall sports practice begins August 17.  

HSGN Celebrates Four Years of Blogging

Today, August 1 marks the fourth anniversary of the day HSGN joined the blogosphere, writing about high school sports and game shows. 

Unfortunately, due to the COVID 19 pandemic that shut down the whole spring sports season throughout Minnesota, there has been little to write about for HSGN. 

But there have been things worth mentioning on the high school sports scene.  First, Hopkins girls basketball coach Brian Cosgriff retired after 21 seasons.  The Royals were one game away from a second consecutive state title until the state tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic. 

Next, will there be a fall sports season in Minnesota?  The Minnesota State High School League meets August 4 to render a decision on how fall sports should proceed.  Should it be business as usual or a shortened season.  Or will the season be postponed or cancelled? 

Finally, HSGN would like to extend the best of luck to Brad Brubaker.  Brubaker, according to slpschools.org, retired from his teaching position after 32 years with the district.  He was the head girls track coach, assistant girls soccer coach where his daughter Lydia also played for the Orioles and is now an assistant.  His son, Nathan also played soccer for St. Louis Park.  Brubaker also served as the public address announcer for Oriole girls basketball games. 

On the game show front, it's been a mix of reruns and new episodes due to COVID 19 for ABC's Sunday and Thursday night lineups.  Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are about to resume taping after weeks of reruns but it will be a different vibe because there will be no studio audience. 

So that's what's happening since the last post.  Happy Anniversary HSGN and hopefully there will be something worth posting soon that would be of interest.