COCHRANE— COVID-19 has turned the sports world on its head, and one of the most affected groups has been high school students hoping to turn their athletic dreams into reality.
Coaches everywhere have had to adapt their programs to fit into the guidelines of provincial and national health organizations, and students have had to alter the way they approach their prospective careers.
In Cochrane, head coach and founder of the Cochrane Endurance Project and head coach of St. Timothy School’s track program, Travis Cummings, said he has seen some changes in both the recruitment process and changes in the athletes in track programs.
“The kids haven’t raced, so it’s hard to give coaches results and show coaches where the kids are at, and show comparisons and things like, particularly because we had track cancelled last year. The other big thing is that kids are a little uncertain where they’re at, because they don’t know where they stand in comparison to the competition.”
Despite the uncertainty, he said many of the coaches he is in contact with at post-secondary programs have been very understanding of the situation.
“It’s a bit different, it’s not as straightforward right now, but I find university programs and coaches have been quite receptive.”
Having personal relationships in the post-secondary world, Cummings said, has become more important during the pandemic.
“One thing is that I have personal relationships with the college and university coaches that I talk to, so they trust my judgment,” he said. “That being said, we have to use time trial times, we’re using older results, and word of mouth. It’s been streamlined a ton— We’re just doing what we can.”
Track and field is a unique sport, and an easy one to pull off within the health and safety guidelines put forward by Alberta Health Services, and other health organizations.
“We can do track and field safely. It’s been shown that we can do it in other jurisdictions around the world. Australia is basically back to normal in that regard, different NCAA divisions had cross country and track and field championships. It can be done. I think track is a relatively easy one. I mean, I did my own cross-country season in the fall and we had no transmission.”
In addition to the complications in the recruitment process, COVID-19 has proven to be a test for many athletes, in a variety of sports, Cummings said.
“The kids who are intrinsically motivated and have a natural love for the sport and they have a process-based focus and have a long-term attitude toward the sport, they’ve been great. It’s the fringe kids that do it because their friends do it, or they don’t understand the nature of the sport, or they never invested in being anything but outcome-based, or they didn’t have a passion for it to begin with, those kids dropped off really quickly,” he said. “Because they have no competition, a lot of them just quit … I would say that’s probably a trend with most sports, especially endurance sports, because endurance sports are hard. You have to love it.”
Cummings added the majority of the athletes in the Cochrane Endurance Project remain on the team.
Defensive back coach, special teams’ coach and assistant defensive coordinator with the Cochrane Cobras, Tom Knitter, said many of the athletes at Cochrane High could face some difficulty trying to get recruited to U Sport programs this year.
“It’s a difficult time right now. Looking at the U Sport level right now, they didn’t age out any players. Usually, a small percentage of your team is going to be aging out, but U Sport changed the decision on that,” he said. “They also have an abundance of talent right now, as in, all of the people who were recruited last year were on that team, but have yet to be a part of any competition. You’re really looking at this backlog of two years of recruits coming up into the program. There’s a lot of competition out there right now.”
The University of Calgary Dinos, specifically, are the returning defending champions, having come away with the Vanier Cup in 2019.
That team, Knitter said, is returning a very strong core of talented players with very limited roster spots available for up-and-coming hopefuls.
“Those guys that might be a U Sport calibre player in a traditional year, are now, due to the numbers at U Sport, are now probably looking at playing Junior football. I think it’s going to be a great recruiting year for the Junior football programs in Alberta, because there’s such an abundance of talent right now.”
Knitter said he has had to change his approach toward recruiting this year, sending mostly practice footage, and placing a larger emphasis on the players themselves, their character and grades.
“When you’re trying to send film out for this year of athletes, we didn’t have any competition, so you’re either sending film from previous years, or you're sending competitive scrimmage or practice footage out. It’s just an adjustment that the recruiters at the university level have had to make,” he said. “It’s given them an opportunity to dive into these student-athletes, and things like what their grades are like and things like that.”
The Cobras coaching staff became much more reliant on coaching through film this year, and also put a larger emphasis on coaching remotely, allowing them to help the players out consistently, even during periods when face-to-face contact was not possible.
“That might be one of the conveniences of the entire pandemic. It was a great opportunity for us to transition to a large focus on coaching through film, and a large focus on being able to make a player better by watching practice film,” he said.
Despite those challenges and adaptations, Knitter said, he is not worried about the chances of the athletes who want to play at the U Sport level to attain their goals.
“I wouldn’t say it hurts their chances, I would say it’s just going to take a little bit of a longer route to get there,” he said. “If you’re a player that needs more time to develop physically, or get your grades together, or get in a weight room, whatever it may be, Junior football can offer an opportunity for that.”
Ty Metcalfe, who plays slotback for the Cobras, has elected to go into the Junior stream with the prospect of another uncertain season ahead of him.
“I was talking with Windsor and Simon Fraser for a while, and they made me offers,” he said. “I was ready to play some uni-ball, felt really good about myself, even with that much film, and I was ready to perform even more because I barely got to play.”
In March, Metcalfe signed his commitment to play for the Calgary Colts.
“Everything since COVID, it got me thinking if I go all the way out to Windsor of Simon Fraser and we don’t even get a season, and I miss people at home— I love my family and stuff. I decided that maybe the Colts would be a good option,” he said. “That’s where Mr. Knitter stepped in because he knows [the head coach of the Colts, Dennis Holowaychuk.]”
Metcalfe was in a difficult position with regards to his recruitment because he broke his wrists during his Grade 11 year. He wasn’t able to return to the field until the Cobras were in the playoffs.
Recruiters often look at Grade 11 footage to get an idea of how a player is developing and can compare it to Grade 12 footage to see if their development is heading in the right direction.
Fortunately for Metcalfe, he was able to play enough in the playoffs of his Junior year that he could accumulate some game footage for his recruitment.
Knitter sent Metcalfe’s footage off, and Metcalfe himself reached out to the Colts’ recruiters and heard back after a few days.
“I think this was the best option, to stay home, take a little bit of a gap year and work on upgrading my grades,” he said. “Hopefully, next season I’ll start for the Colts. That’s the play, right? Then get better film from the Colts and maybe get more offers.”
For now, though, Metcalfe is setting his sights on a championship next season, should the Junior leagues be allowed to compete.
“I want to lead the Colts to a championship because I have that Cobra mentality. I want to be a starter and really impress those coaches right now,” he said.
