By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Jill Hunt got the chance to spend this Mother’s Day weekend with her husband, three daughters and one son without any scheduling conflicts getting in the way.
That doesn’t happen very often when your kids are usually involved in youth sports during the spring. But the novel coronavirus pandemic has obliterated all of the practice sessions and game times on their family calendar.
“This is a whole change of pace for us,” Hunt said. “We’re not used to this at all. At least they have siblings to play with as opposed to no one at all.”
Hunt has hundreds of other kids on her mind this weekend. She’s director of the Northern Kentucky Volleyball Club that selects and trains more than 40 teams in different age groups to compete in tournaments sanctioned by USA Volleyball.
In March, the club had to close its gym in Wilder and discontinue all person-to-person training in accordance with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s statewide social distancing directives due to the pandemic.
“It’s sad,” Hunt said. “The kids want to get back in the gym. They’re really missing it.”
Even if they were allowed to practice, the NKYVC players wouldn’t have been able to compete. Over the last two months, all select club tournaments sanctioned by USA Volleyball were cancelled.
Hunt said the USA Volleyball tournament schedule usually slacks off in May so it doesn’t interfere with the final weeks of the school year and then kicks up again in June.
The local club would like to resume training on May 23, the same date that USA Volleyball plans to renew sanctioning tournaments. But indoor volleyball isn’t among the youth sports permitted to resume in the governor’s second phase of reopening the state.
“With all this stuff going on, we don’t know about June and what’s going to happen,” Hunt said.
“We try to send out emails to the parents every time we get an update. They’ve really been patient during all this, but there’s so many unknowns that it’s hard to answer some of their questions right now. We just don’t know what’s going to happen and how this is going to go.”
The uncertainty of the situation literally hits home for Hunt. All three of her daughters play on NKYVC teams and she coaches another team herself.
Her oldest daughter, Maya, 15, is among the NKYVC players hoping to catch the eye of college coaches who flock to USA Volleyball tournaments to assess upcoming recruiting talent.
If this year’s tournaments continue to be cancelled, there’s a chance some prospects could be overlooked and reduce their chances of playing at the next level.
“It’s a big, big deal for our high school-age kids to be able to get exposed for college scholarships,” Hunt said. “But the way it is now nobody across the country has an advantage over anybody else. We just have to navigate what’s best for us and our kids and the college coaches. We’re kind of working all together to figure this out.”
No one knows when or if the 2020 high school volleyball season will be played due to the social distancing guidelines currently in place. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association isn’t going to allow any sports activities without the approval of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the state government.
“I just don’t think the 2020 fall season in any fall sport is going to look like 2019. That’s probably the first thing we ought to get into our heads,” KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett said on Friday.
If the start of the high school volleyball season is postponed by the KHSAA, Hunt would like to give players a chance to work on their skills at the NKYVC gym that has multiple courts.
“We have enough space that we can spread people apart and make good choices when it comes to social distancing,” Hunt said.
“We’re in this for the kids. Anything we can do to help them is important to us. If we’re allowed in the gym just a few people at a time and we’re following what the CDC and all those people say, I’d love to get them back in the gym.”