The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association officially shut down any hope of high school sports happening in the state this spring when its board of directors made the announcement a week ago that there would be no spring sports or tournaments.
That decision didn’t come as a shock for many. What really stung was Gov. Charlie Baker’s announcing just a few days earlier that school campuses would not reopen this academic year.
Baker acknowledged how much this would impact students, and especially seniors.
“They’ve all worked hard for four years and they look forward to the so-called last season. Whether it’s to play lacrosse, run track, participate in a school play, go to the prom, graduate," Baker said when he made the announcement last week. "Because of COVID-19, a lot of this will not happen, and some of it will happen in ways that are far different than anybody would have imagined it just a few months ago.”
For senior athletes, their last season is something special. Like Paul Guiney, a pitcher and catcher at Catholic Memorial in West Roxbury, they’re having to deal with losing what they’ve pursued for so long.
“Graduation, prom, all those ceremonies are nice, but baseball was something I’ve really worked for, and it’s been with me my whole life," said Guiney, 18. "So, like coming up, this was the goal, to really play varsity and succeed at varsity level and enjoy my time here.”
Baseball is in Guiney’s blood. His grandfather, George Susce, pitched for the Red Sox.
Last season, Catholic Memorial got knocked out of the second round of the state playoffs. Guiney and his squad had worked all summer and winter for another opportunity.
That’s why, Guiney said, he was looking forward to the baseball season the most out of the events once scheduled for this spring — more than prom or graduation.
“Those other moments are fun, but when you look back at them, they’re just one snippet," he said. "Baseball … is this whole journey that didn’t have the right ending. It just has like an asterisk on it.”
Hal Carey, Catholic Memorial’s baseball coach, said most skilled players typically only spend two years on the varsity team — three if they’re exceptionally talented.
“I don’t begrudge those guys. I don’t think it’s being selfish to feel badly about missing those things," Carey said. "I think our guys have it in perspective. They know there are far worse things than missing your senior season. … But certainly, as a 17- or 18-year-old kid, when you look at some of the stuff you’re missing and you’re never gonna get back, that’s a tough pill to swallow for them.”
The impact of losing spring sports across the state isn't limited to this year. Next season, coaches may be faced with difficult decisions when it comes time to decide who makes it on to varsity rosters and who doesn't.
"So now you've got guys that played as sophomores [the] previous year, this year they're missing their junior year, now they're seniors next year," Carey said. "You know, you really don't want to cut seniors that have been in the program. Normally, you would have cut them as juniors if they weren't going to play senior year or you didn't think they were going to play senior year. Now if they come out as seniors, you know, again, if you have to, you have to, but if we can keep them any way, we'll probably try to keep them."
Paige Lemieux, the athletic director at Charlestown High School, said sports play a large part in the life of her students.
“Sports definitely lift up the morale and the environment of the school. So I think it definitely drives a lot of students’ academic success," she said. "So when that’s taken away, it creates a whole different avenue of trying to get creative to find success for them.”
Lemieux said there were meetings about potentially having an abbreviated season, had schools resumed in-person classes. There would have been about 10 days of practice before competitions began. But even then, it wouldn’t have been the same.
“Having to take, you know, four to six weeks off, our coaches are trying to kind of do at-home workouts with students, but … the reality is it’s not the same," she said. "You’re not swinging a bat, you’re not getting the practice, you’re not getting the real reps in on the track — whatever your sport is. So I think that break period would have been really difficult. Then to have only 10 days to prepare for a season is not really enough.”
Lemieux said for the seniors, the one thing they want more than anything is simple: pictures.
“I’ve reached out to almost every senior so far and kind of checked in to be like, ‘What would you want to feel like you really got to really close out your senior year of your sport?'" she said. "And a lot of them have literally just said they want a chance to be with their team and take pictures in their uniform. Get some action shots, get some final team photos, so they can remember it.”
The Charlestown boys' outdoor track team is the Boston City League’s reigning champion and was looking forward to defending its title.
Ricardo Darius, who had run track for Charlestown since he was a freshman, said he wanted the chance to repeat and get photos with another championship banner in his hands.
“It’s like, dang, we had a chance to defend our title and we got that chance taken away from us,” he said. “It sucked. It really does suck.”
But he couldn't even get his senior photos done professionally. He had to try taking them on his own at home with an iPhone.
“And that was just like, ‘Dang, this sucks. I’m over here taking my senior photos.’ And … this might not have to do with school, but, with everything shut down, the barber shop was closed," said Darius, 18. "So I was like, ‘Dang, on top of that, I have to take [a] senior photo with a bad haircut or a do-rag on.’ And that, yeah … 2020 … yeah, it really sucks.”
The senior year of high school is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of anyone's life. For athletes, it’s when memories are as precious as playing time.
But now even something as simple as one last photo would make all the difference in the world to seniors whose seasons the coronavirus has wiped off the calendar.
