Bulldogs play varsity only this summer

HAMPTON – A tense, emotional special Hampton-Dumont Board of Education meeting resulted in a narrow win for Bulldog summer sports.

In a close vote, the board approved varsity-only competition for softball and baseball on Friday May 29.

Although lower levels, including middle school, freshmen and JV can practice, there will be no games played for the Bulldogs beyond the varsity level.

Christi Weiser, new H-D activity coordinator said on Saturday morning how much she is thankful for the chance for the kids to play.

“The first thing I want to say is that I’m so appreciative of all the efforts for all of summer sports to be a possibility,” Weiser said. “I can’t even say how many countless hours put into making this decision, and appreciative of us playing it this summer.”

Weiser put forth a plan and how much work was done in order to prepare for summer sports after it was both approved to go forward by the governor and the high school associations. She told the group via Zoom that she wouldn’t have said it was OK unless all of these measures have been put into place.

“I’m comfortable with it, with my kid participating because of what we have done,” Weiser said to the school board on Friday.

Among the measures above and beyond what is required by the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union include a wellness check form, a player information form, increased signage and an event manager, Heather Holm, has been hired to be at every game and monitor social distancing.

“We want our coaches to coach,” Weiser said. “We are closing the bleachers for fans, which will be designated for nonessential personnel (like managers, statisticians, media, etc).

“This isn’t a ‘have-to’ (event), it is a ‘get-to’. If you can’t follow the guidelines, you can’t come.”

It was added that all parents have to be on board in order to ensure everyone was safe and a special Zoom meeting for parents was held on Monday for both team’s parents.

Despite the presentation and head softball coach Kelsey Enslin and head baseball coach Matt Lokenvitz saying that the school administration had come up with a good plan for keeping distance and safety measures, school board member Jeff Rosenberg brought up his concerns, including transportation issues, and initially moved to not go forward with summer sports which failed to go through.

Weiser said that those were tense moments.

“I’m not going to lie, my heart was pounding,” Weiser said of the initial vote. “I love sports, I have friends who love sports and know the kids who love sports. Everybody is doing the best they are from the best intentions, but I was nervous.

“It just shows that people are more passionate and care about anything in this world, that they care about their kids and families. To say yes, we trust you to do this in a safe way. I super-appreciate that.”

Enslin said at the meeting, “This is a big (deal) that at first I didn’t think it a possibility. I have talked to Christi every day since it was approved to see it happen. This is not an all-or-nothing (thing). There are things we can do, it can be varsity only. It’s a big decision for us.

“I love our kids and we’ve gone over the situation to cover every base. It’s easy to look at the what-ifs, but I feel safe and we’ve put so much in place in light of hope for things to go on.”

Assistant baseball coaches Mike Holm and Jeromiah Bliss did pose some trepidation since Holm has some underlying health issues with diabetes and the fact his dad has cancer. Both, however, said that they would go with whatever the board agreed to.

“We’ve talked numerous times about scenarios, we have a good plan,” Lokenvitz said. “It’s above and beyond what the state has asked us to. A lot of schools are doing different things and I think the school has the kids’ best interests at heart. Whatever you decide is in the best interest of the kids.”

Rosenberg and Stephanie Powers brought up the fact that the school was unable to keep the graduates distant after the ceremony the week previous.

However, school board president Chad Hanson brought up that this discussion may come up in the fall with football, volleyball and cross country.

“We may have no choice if the kids are in the classroom,” Hanson said. “Graduation was emotional, one-time. If I was a senior and missed out on a baseball season…I’d like to give it a shot.”

He added that one of the stipulations from the high school athletic associations is that at any time, if things aren’t working, the district could vote to end the season.

Steve Severs asked how long the community was going to hide.

“We are going into it with the right amount of caution,” Severs said.

Mark Morrison moved to have a varsity-only season and it narrowly passed with vice-president Erran Miller abstaining from the vote.

Weiser said on Saturday that the school has also opted out of Saturday tournaments to alleviate travel concerns and stressed the fact that although the lower levels wouldn’t be competing, they would still be able to practice.

“Everyone is going to do as much as they can, take that approach, so there is a great opportunity for growth in our baseball and softball programs,” Weiser said Saturday. “Some of our kids will not get the chance to play in a game for all of the work they are doing, but the things that can be gained without the pressure of performing, it’s not an opportunity we get (very often).

“Our leadership council, I can’t give them enough credit. They have such a great approach.”