The Missouri State High School Activities Association provided a ray of sunshine in these cloudy days of local sports.
Now it's up to all of us not to screw it up.
Earlier this month, MSHSAA gave the go-ahead for a one-time exemption to hold organized competitions that include graduating seniors to represent their schools as enrolled students if they decide to do that this summer.
Sports! Maybe!
There are currently no practices for sports teams and school is closed for the academic year, so that should mean nothing can be done until we get past those dates.
But what can we expect to see if/when we see a version of high school sports in the summer?
In the more team oriented sports, it obviously would take some time to get ready to play. You can try to get a soccer or baseball team in competition without organized practices, but that is just asking for hamstring and arm injuries.
Baseball.
There is already a summer league that starts in June that the larger schools in the area have played in the last few years that includes Helias and Jefferson City.
It's a league designed to build toward the next season and graduated seniors normally don't play in it.
But Helias coach Chris Wyrick told me Friday night the Crusader seniors want to play together one more time, no matter how short the season. So Helias will be putting two varsity teams in the league, one having all of the seniors, the other designed to develop players against varsity competition.
I know there's also another league being put together of smaller schools around the area that has the potential to have 10-plus teams in it.
With all of these teams getting together to play, I can see the opportunity for an area-wide tournament. Pick a weekend in mid-July and get as many schools as interested to play.
Girls soccer.
It's going to be a little more difficult for girls soccer than baseball because not as many schools in the area have it.
But you do have three schools in Jefferson City and four in Columbia. Then you've got the potential schools such as Fatima or School of the Osage or Camdenton to be involved as well.
With enough participants, you could have a league and perhaps even a season-ending tournament played on a Friday-Saturday-Sunday.
Track and field.
This is the most difficult one, if only because of the number of participants and the 18 total events.
I'm sure the elite runners have been putting in their work, especially the ones who will be heading off to compete at the collegiate level. But the field events would be a different story. You could work on the throws if you could find the proper space, but the next pole vault pit I see in someone's backyard will be the first pole vault pit I've seen in someone's backyard.
Due to participant numbers, it will be almost impossible to get everyone on your team back for every practice. But if you get enough, and often enough, I think it would be possible to have some duals or triangulars on a weekly schedule.
And if you get enough interest in the area, have a Friday-Saturday invitational for anyone who has put in the practice time. Big schools, small schools, invite them all to compete against each other.
Boys golf and girls tennis.
I'm going to put these two together because I think they have the simplest paths for a potential resumption of competition.
Golf courses in Missouri have mostly remained open, if you wanted to get out and play, you could. Tennis courts are the same, although it's tough to play tennis by yourself. So potentially you wouldn't need as many practices as you would in other sports to get ready to go.
For competitions, all you need is a willing golf course or a cluster of open tennis courts.
And these might be the easiest sports to hold "unofficial" district tournaments. Just use the assignments already put out last month by MSHSAA, have the schools come to a consensus for a date or dates and there you go.
I know none of these ideas in any of these sports will be easy to pull off. And with the exception of the already established summer baseball leagues, there's a pretty good chance none of them might happen. There are hurdles to clear in regards to investing the time that would be required to accomplish any of it. I'm just tossing out ideas.
But where there's a will, there's a way.
And here's the first way. The stay-at-home order has been lifted in the area. But we are likely a handful of new coronavirus cases away from it coming back and then almost assuredly there will be a restart of the clock.
MSHSAA said any competitions have to be concluded by the end of July. The clock is already ticking. Do you want the opportunity of your child, grandchild, neighbor getting the chance to compete? Be smart and be safe and it could happen.