V.S. spring high school sports cancelled due to coronavirus

Not long after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Valley Stream Central High School District Athletic Director Scott Stueber recalled, the district managed to get the fall season on track. Stueber was a coach at the time, and even after Hurricane Sandy 11 years later, his football team squeezed in a playoff game that the storm’s devastation had threatened to cancel.

But on April 20, any hopes that the spring sports season could continue were dashed when health and safety concerns led athletic administrators and school superintendents in Nassau and Suffolk counties to announce its cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Stueber said he had hoped to salvage a shortened season, or at least practices, but as the public and officials learned more about the dangers posed by Covid-19, the disease brought on by the coronavirus, he realized no amount of planning could ensure the safety of players, coaches and their family members.

“There’s nothing we can do,” he said. “That’s the hardest part — the helplessness.”

It was a disappointing outcome for student athletes across the Island, but for the senior athletes graduating this year, Stueber said, “There are no words.”

Among the Valley Stream senior athletes robbed of a final chance to play for their school was North High School varsity first baseman Anthony Capolino, who was dealt a heavy blow.

Because of the senior-heavy makeup of the baseball team last season, Capolino sat out a number of games to give graduating players a chance to play. Unlike many of his teammates, Capolino played just one sport, his coach, Phil Sanfillippo, said. This season was supposed to be his chance to shine.

“Him in particular, I know how hard he worked,” Sanfillippo said. “. . . He was playing the best baseball he had ever played.”

Capolino said he envisioned a solid season, and looked forward to leading his team to perhaps another playoff run like it had last year.

“I had hopes,” he said. “I kept hope throughout the whole process.”

But when the news broke last week, he said, “It was really heartbreaking because everything I worked for was just gone.”

Baseball has long had a calming effect on him, ever since he began playing at 5. “It was always something I could go to when I’m not feeling right,” he said. “The game’s always been something special to me, ever since I was young.”

Now Capolino is focused on college. He said he plans to try out for the team at St. John’s University, which he will attend in the fall.

For other athletes, the coronavirus brought an unceremonious end to their stellar high school careers. In the case of Isabella Secaria-Cotto, captain and star pitcher for South High School’s varsity softball team, she lost the chance to break major milestones.

Her coach, Demitri Adrahtas, said Secaria-Cotto was poised to throw 1,100 strikeouts by the end of the season — she had 850 going into it — and possibly reach the 200-hit milestone for her varsity career, which she began in eighth grade. Adrahtas said those accomplishments combined would have put her in a “rarefied” position among high school softball players in the region.

“She would have been an all-time leader in Long Island sports, which she not going to get to do,” he said. “You feel sad for her, but you feel sad for all of them.”

Secaria-Cotto said she was devastated when news of the cancellation became official, not because of her potential record status, but because of the lost opportunity to play with her teammates one last time. Together they had defied great odds, she said, clawing their way up to Conference 3, and were seen as underdogs this year, a challenge for which she felt they were prepared. “I had a lot of high hopes for this season,” she said.

While she credits Adrahtas, her father and support from the South community for her athletic success, in particular she singled out her teammates for getting them to where, due to powers outside of their control, they had to leave off.

“The one thing I will never ever forget about this team is we persevered through everything, and we broke through barriers,” she said. “… And that’s a true testament to work ethic as well as great coaching.”

Secaria-Cotto has signed to play softball for Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

The Section VIII athletics conference governs Nassau County, and Section XI, Suffolk County. “For the safety for our student athletes, Section VIII has made the difficult decision to cancel spring sports for our high schools and middle schools,” Pat Pizzarelli, the executive director of Nassau County athletics, said. “Long Island is one of the areas most affected by this terrible pandemic, so both Section VIII and Section XI have made this very difficult decision.”

Administrators in both counties met over Monday and Tuesday last week, and thought it was important to act quickly. Even if public school buildings were to reopen, no sporting events will be held. Gov. Andrew Cuomo extended New York state’s stay-at-home policies through May 15, meaning that school buildings will be closed until at least that date.

“It’s very sad for the seniors, but we are dealing with life and death,” Pizzarelli said. “We have to safeguard our students and communities. We waited as long as we possibly could to make this heartbreaking decision.”

Nassau County’s Athletic Council, which includes superintendents, principals and officials, met and was unanimous in its decision. Athletic directors agreed with it.

“I kind of knew it was coming,” Stueber said of the cancellation, “but I was trying to not be pessimistic.”

However, between the logistics of organizing sporting officials, and securing busing accommodations amid the shutdown brought on by the virus, he said, even with a swift reopening at this point, “It would have been tough.”

Already, high school sports administrators are looking to the fall season with anxiety. Even if the virus’s dangers were to recede by then, there would be hurdles to overcome, such as how the student athletes would get June physicals if they are not in school, and as the availability of primary care physicians remains in question for students who opt to get one through their private doctor.

“Everything is based on what-if’s right now,” Stueber said. “These are all new challenges.”