By Peter Nakos

Granite State News Collaborative

The sign of things to come came on the night of March 11 for Jeff Collins and the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association. 

Collins, the NHIAA’s president, had to move the Division II girls basketball semifinals down to Pinkerton Academy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dartmouth College was set to host the event, but was going to enforce a restricted-fan policy if the games had been played in Hanover.

The games went on that night in Derry But by the time Collins headed to his car the National Basketball Association had postponed all further games. The sports world would come to a standstill by the end of the week. 

“It's really important that everybody stays put, stays away from each other and you know,” he said over the phone. “It all happened in a very, very short period of time. But, you know, in order to stem the tide, we have to kind of hunker down. 

When you look at it in the greater context of keeping people safe, and when we're talking about high school sports, those are two completely different things. You certainly feel for the seniors and the kids that want to go out and represent their school one last time, though. Those are the people that we have in the forefront of our minds.”

The last month has been a whirlwind for Collins as New Hampshire’s governing athletic body has brought sports to a halt, following Gov. Chris Sununu’s shelter-at-home order, which is set to remain until May 4. 

Collins had to make arguably the toughest decision of his six-year tenure when he was forced to cancel the rest of the winter sports postseason leaving plenty of sports with co-champions.

Now, he’s tasked with being prepared to have to cancel the spring sports season if the governor extends his shelter-at-home order or moves the rest of the academic year to remote learning. Multiple states across the country have already cancelled their spring sport seasons. 

“If we can get back to school if the governor says we're going to open up schools, we're gonna try to do whatever we can to get some sort of a spring season,” Collins said. “I’ve been on the record to say look, we have to play this thing out, but you know, if we can get back to school, we're going to put together something for the spring season we're going for it.”

If the NHIAA can get back into the classroom and onto the playing field, Collins is planning to get the ball rolling immediately. Practices would start on May 4 and games would begin May 13. 

Collins would ensure that every team gets in a few games before playoffs would begin in an open-format, allowing every school entry into the tournament. 

One of the ways that he is making sure that teams would be ready by May 13 is allowing coaches to reach out to their teams to discuss what players can do to stay in shape while keeping a social distance. 

Coaches have been told they cannot hold a practice, but sending over some workouts that can be done in the backyard is allowed.

If schools don’t go back, however, Collins finds it hard to believe groups of 10 or over would be possible for athletic events to be permitted. 

“I think the scariest thing is if you're still socially isolating and doing everything that we're doing in the fall,” he said. 

On the flip side of Collins sits Charlie Adams, a senior student-athlete at Hanover High.

Adams was preparing to play in the Division II boys basketball semifinals when the NHIAA decided to postpone all events until further notice on March 13. By the morning of March 16, Adams senior basketball season was canceled. 

After leading the Marauders to a 16-3 record, Adams was named D-II’s player of the year. He won’t get a chance to finish what he started, though. 

Basketball isn’t Adams’ top sport; he is set to attend Brown in the fall and play for the men’s soccer team. He is now tasked with getting back into soccer shape without being able to fully use his resources due to COVID-19. 

He even has to ponder what his freshman year of college will look like. 

“I was supposed to be playing club (soccer) right now, but obviously, everything's canceled,” Adams said. “So I'm just trying to get out and play as much as I can. Slowly getting ready for the fall. Hopefully we have fall seasons.”

At the collegiate level, all spring sports were called off on March 12. But, the Division I Council on March 30 voted to allow schools to provide spring-sport student-athletes an additional season of competition and an extension of their period of eligibility.

That means a senior women’s lacrosse player for the University of New Hampshire is able to retain her year of eligibility and return for next year’s campaign. 

The NCAA also announced that universities are allowed to carry more members on scholarship to account for incoming recruits and student-athletes returning for a final season. 

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.