With winter sports tentatively on the horizon, athletic directors from around the state put in the extra work to make sure winter sports were a go at their respective schools.

The job of an athletic director isn’t easy, but it’s never been as challenging as it’s been for the past nine months.

Once the Maine Principals’ Association and the Department of Education gave the tentative green light for winter sports to begin with protocols in place, athletic directors around the state began the process of getting approval at the local level.

“Once the state and the MPA put something together, we needed to receive authorization from our school board,” said Mt. Ararat AD Geoff Godo. “Our school board got behind the importance of sports and approved the season unanimously.”

In Bath at Morse High School, athletic director Nathan Priest also didn’t have any issues when it came to the local level approval. The RSU 1 school board also approved winter sports unanimously. 

“We are very fortunate that our school board recognizes the value of sports here in Bath and at Morse,” Priest said. 

While there are plenty of challenges at hand, one thing athletic directors agreed upon was the challenge of finding facilities that will allow for their teams to practice in and use for competition between schools.

Jeff Ramich, the athletic director at Brunswick High School, had another issue come up along the way that he wasn’t planning for when securing alternative facilities for his teams to practice in. 

“We’ve had some trouble with transportation to and from the facilities,” Ramich said. “Parents of players will begin helping out with that in January. We’re very lucky to have such a supportive community where parents will step up and help out like this.”

For now, Cumberland County remains in the “yellow” designation, meaning no practices or competition is allowed for schools in the county.  The next update comes on Thursday.

While it’s been an unique year for all, midcoast area athletic directors took pride in making sure that the student athletes would have the opportunity to have some sort of season.

“It’s not only part of my job, but it’s important for me to provide an outlet for activity in a safe environment,” Godo explained. “We can’t control the pandemic, but myself and others feel that this is important to try this while following the health and safety protocols we have in place.”

For Brunswick and Ramich, the importance of having some sort of sport goes beyond the court or ice.

“Co-curricular activities are the extension of the classroom where our children learn life long lessons like social skills and relationship building skills with not only their peers, but their coaches as well,” said Ramich.

Priest says Morse has seen an increase in the number of students participating in sports this winter, something he says is due to the months of lack of physical activity for these students. 

“It’s been eye opening to see the students participating amid what’s going on,” Priest said. “It’s nice to see that the students have a sense of relief and are enjoying themselves when they are with their team.”

Skills and drills sessions were allowed to begin on Dec. 7. Team practices are currently scheduled to begin Monday, and competition between schools allowed to begin on Jan. 11 with the exception of wrestling, which was pushed back to late February.