By Kiptyn Berry
All sports come down to one goal, team, and moment. Athletes’ efforts during summer practices determine these goals.
Summer sports practices are vital to athletic teams’ success. However, some new changes have been made to how often coaches can hold practice for their sport.
Moratorium is when student-athletes can’t interact with coaches in summer practices. Originally, moratorium was only one week, June 30- July 6, but due to a change in state regulations, Indiana schools must account for five additional moratorium days this summer.
The extra week of moratorium doesn’t have to be consecutive, which means that those days can be spread out over the length of the summer.
Delta has picked these additional days.
The extra week is as follows: Monday, June 23, Monday, July 7, Monday, July 14, and Friday, August 1. One of the dates has yet to be chosen, so it will be finalized at a later date.
Some coaches disagree with the idea of the new moratorium schedule. Delta’s athletic director, Mr. Tilmon Clark, has a different opinion.
“I think it’s good,” Mr. Clark said. “I think that any time coaches and student-athletes can catch their breath is a good thing. They can help you step aside from practices or an event and relax a bit. I think that it is good for everybody.”
The boys’ basketball team only practices in June on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
So the new moratorium schedule has impacted two of their original practice dates. But one of those original moratorium dates will have to be changed so it may or may not affect their team.
The boys’ basketball team would normally have 12 practices but the new moratorium schedule will affect one or more of these practices.
“I don’t like it, ” said head basketball coach Mark Detweiler. “I just don’t think you can have a blanket rule that fits every team at a school. For example, what fits basketball doesn’t fit tennis or football.”
Due to the extra week of moratorium, the basketball summer camp will have to be changed. This is because high school basketball players are an important part of the camp.
Tennis also falls under this same issue. The annual Tim Cleland Tennis Camp has had to be rescheduled for Tuesday through Saturday for one week because of the moratorium.
Even though some of the camp is for younger kids, high school tennis players help to run the camp. Also, high school players have camp on the same days, so it is against the moratorium rules.
“It looks like my summer camps are going to be Tuesday through Saturday because it looks like we’re going to have Monday (in the July week) as part of the moratorium,” head tennis coach Tim Cleland said.
Having to have the camp tournament on a Saturday can also be an issue for families that are going out of town that weekend, instead of having the tournament on a Friday, like originally scheduled.
With some sports practicing longer than others, the impact of the moratorium is also different. Since football normally practices four days a week, not having a practice day here or there isn’t a big deal because they can move their practices.
On the other hand, sports like basketball that only practice in June for three days a week, having days where the team can’t hold practice or events, can be hard on an athletic program.
Volleyball also falls under a similar issue with their practices being affected. Volleyball normally practices only in July where the original moratorium week would take place.
But, because of the new moratorium schedule it makes it harder for volleyball players and teammates to get the necessary prep time in.
Head volleyball coach Mrs. Johnson expressed the idea to Mr. Clark to have the weeks be consecutive so that athletes can have one large break during summer.
Mr. Detweiler has a different opinion on how the moratorium should be changed.
“I think the best answer is to handle it locally with each school and pick your days by sport,” Detweiler said.
This means that each sport should pick days when they won’t hold events. An example of this would be, since basketball doesn’t practice in July, they could put all of their moratorium days in July to maximize their ability to practice in June.
A possible problem with this would be that it could be hard to monitor which sports can be practiced and which can’t.
Students also have different thoughts on the new moratorium schedule. Sophomore Wyatt Berry plays three sports: football, wrestling, and track.
“I think that having an extra week in the summer is good for athletes because sometimes I feel like I can’t have an actual summer break when I have practices three times a week,” Berry said.
Playing multiple different sports can be grueling for some athletes because they have to attend multiple different practices. This moratorium schedule has given athletes the ability to relax and recover from their practices.
“I think it will be nice because it gives your body a break and just gives you time to relax,” freshman Cale Taylor said.
Cale participates in three sports at Delta: football, basketball, and baseball. Since football and basketball both have summer practice, Cale has to split time between practices, which can be difficult.
He also participates in travel baseball, so this extra week of moratorium is beneficial for him and others. Travel baseball is allowed to hold events during the moratorium periods because it is not a school-sponsored sport.
Graham Sieber is a freshman at Delta and plays tennis and baseball. Graham also participates in travel baseball.
He has a similar opinion as Cale when it comes to moratorium.
“I think it’s good to give the athletes a rest because they absolutely go really hard in season, and they should get a little rest,” Sieber said.
Even with the mixed opinions that this new moratorium schedule brings, it was created to give athletes and coaches a break from practices.
