Face-to-face schooling is a sign that sports could resume – Wellington

President of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Keith Wellington, said the recent announcement by the Minister of Education Fayval Williams that the Government plans to resume face-to-face schooling very soon is an encouraging sign that schools sports could restart within the next two school terms.

However, he said it is still too soon to harbour any real hope or expectation of high-school sports returning in 2021.

Williams recently announced that under a pilot project, face-to-face classes will resume locally on November 9, but the phased reopening of schools will largely hinge on the success of the programme.

But the ISSA president, who also wears the hat of the principal of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), said he is pleased with this latest development nonetheless.

"We are glad it's really happening but it isn't really a change in terms of our expectations. We have always said that if there is no face-to-face school then there will be no sports. So obviously, if there is face-to-face school that means the likelihood changes.

"But that doesn't mean that if we have face-to-face school we must have sports, it doesn't mean that. But if there is face-to-face school it increases the likelihood that normal activities will resume," he commented.

He pointed out that although most persons are eager to see face-to-face school and school sports resume, they have to bear in mind that there is still a great health risk involved, and that there will need to be some form of adjustment for sports to take place in the pandemic.

"Everybody has to accept that the health of everyone is the first priority. But based on where we are some form of compromise will have to take place in terms of people just trying to live with COVID and just trying to keep themselves safe, while ensuring that the students are not left behind academically or otherwise.

A pilot (project)

"The (ministry's) announcement is that (face-to-face) school will resume in another week. But in terms of full-scale or wide-scale face-to-face resumption, I don't think you can really expect much of that until January.

"Because if they are going to do a pilot (project) for two weeks, they will at least need the result of the pilot to make an assessment, and by the time they do that we will be in December.

"So really and truly, we are looking for a January date for wide-scale face-to-face resumption," he reasoned.

Sports such as table tennis, chess, volleyball, hockey, lacrosse and rugby are scheduled to be played over the next two school terms, and although optimism has been raised, Wellington said they will not be able to give a fair assessment before the end of next month.

"We would not like to speak on it just yet. We have indicated that we will wait until November, December to make an assessment of where we are and what is likely and what we are going to be doing. But we haven't complete that process as yet, so I wouldn't like to speak just yet on that," he said.

As to the possibility of an adjusted football format being contested over the period, his response was the same.

"We have already made it clear there will be no Manning or daCosta Cup. (In regard to an adjusted high-school football format) We are not ready to speak on that yet. It is something we will speak to later," he stated.