By Brian Argabright
Basketball at Del Rio High School is on a two-week break, but hopes are high the sport will be able to complete its district games.
The San Felipe Del Rio CISD announced Wednesday all UIL activities, including practices and game, will be suspended for two weeks out of precaution due to the increased positivity rate of COVID-19 in Val Verde County.
“We felt postponing practices and games until the rising community COVID cases are under control was best. Nothing has been spread within our programs, but there have been a couple COVID positive kids show up for practices after the winter break. We were able to identify them before exposing others using COVID protocols set up last July and COVID pre-screening implemented in November,” San Felipe Del Rio CISD Athletic Director Ric Smith said.
Schools that compete against Del Rio in District 30-6A in Laredo and Eagle Pass will still compete though Laredo Alexander announced Monday it would suspend play by its Lady Bulldogs basketball team for two weeks due to the coronavirus.
That decision forced the postponement of Tuesday’s game between Alexander and the Del Rio Queens. No makeup date has been announced yet.
While sports and fine arts are affected by the school district’s decision, basketball would be the biggest sport affected due to the fact they are currently in the district play part of the schedule.
The Rams basketball team defeated Laredo Alexander Tuesday night – 56-53 – but won’t be cleared to return to action until at least Jan. 20. That means Friday’s game at Laredo United South and the Jan. 12 game at home versus Eagle Pass would have to be rescheduled. The Rams do have an open spot in their schedule Jan. 15, but those other teams would be in action in previously scheduled contests.
Rams head basketball coach Joe Nieto said he told his players to enjoy the win over Laredo Alexander, but that preparations for Laredo United South would begin Wednesday. Now that’s on hold, but Nieto said he hopes the win over Alexander could be a spark for his team going forward.
“We are going to continue to get better during this time apart. During our ‘A’ days, which is when we have athletic class, we’ll have them all on Zoom and conduct our workouts through there. On our ‘B’ days, we’ll come together on Zoom and workout from 4 to 5 p.m., or we’ll just give them a workout to do on their own,” Nieto said. “The big thing we’ll continue to emphasize is having them break down film on other teams. Our coaches have been doing that all season, making those break downs as detailed as possible. This whole thing is kind of a blessing in disguise. We will be able to do more things than what we usually do when the season is in session.”
“The worst thing we can do is nothing obviously. We just want them to work in a safe environment for them,” Nieto added.
The Queens basketball team did not play Tuesday night and has not played since Dec. 22, as the team was not scheduled to compete during that time. The suspension of play means the Queens’ home game versus Laredo United South on Friday, the Jan. 13 game at Eagle Pass and the Jan. 19 game at Laredo LBJ would need to be rescheduled as well.
Queens head basketball coach Chris Jost echoed a similar plan as Nieto’s.
“For our basketball class days – which are every other day – we’ll continue to utilize our T25 high intensity cardio workouts over Zoom. For non-class days, we’re assigning our girls a progressive outdoor interval running workout program,” Jost said.
Both basketball teams were able to complete their seasons in 2020, but some of the players on both teams competed in spring sports, which saw their seasons suspended and eventually canceled due to COVID-19.
Parents for players on both teams agreed that the suspension of activities can only help COVID problems in the community and that the hope continues that the teams will get to finish out their seasons.
“I pray and hope that they get to finish the season. The kids have put in so much work and much dedication. I am positive they can go back and finish strong,” Xochitl Arteaga, whose son Luis is a senior with the Rams, said.
“As hard as it is to just stop playing in the middle of the season, it is more important to keep everyone safe. Hopefully this break will get us on the downside of the COVID spike,” Michelle Ballard, whose daughter Sydney is a junior with the Queens, said.
While the district expects to return to business as usual in two weeks, Smith said he doesn’t expect any problems to arise when it came to district certification in boys and girls basketball to determine who will compete in the postseason.
“There should be time to complete district basketball schedules since district certification is not until Feb. 9 and 16,” Smith said.
