As the first foursome of Marin Academy and Urban boys golfers waited to tee off on hole No. 1 at Peacock Gap on Thursday, MA head coach John Haight approached the group of eager teenagers and issued his first of several reminders.
“I need you guys to stay six-feet apart,” he told the group. He then proceeded to lay out the new safety protocols that everyone had to follow for the match: masks must stay on at all times; keep your distance; no touching the pins or someone else’s equipment.
Welcome to high school sports during the coronavirus pandemic.
Thursday’s match between the two Bay Counties League West schools was a landmark moment for the county. It was the first high school sporting event to take place in Marin since the pandemic began over 11 months ago.
“To have the first match, it’s for us and for the entire high school community that we’re opening the door and hopefully we’re heading that direction,” Haight said. “It’s going to take a while, obviously, and there have been some up and downs but at least we’re opening that door today.”
Marin Academy took home the win, downing Urban 150-216 –the second-best score the program has posted in Haight’s six years at the helm.
“It’s kind of a shock but I’m happy for the guys,” Haight said. “Really happy.”
Senior Zack Cohen shot a 1-under 34, junior Oliver Vilkin shot a 1-over 36. Senior Cole Hauswirth — in his first high school match — shot a 3-over 38 and senior George Lyons shot a 7-over 42.
Before the match, it was hard for the Wildcats to hide their excitement. While they have been playing in their spare time during the pandemic and during practices the last few weeks, none of that could compare to actually playing an official match for the first time in almost a year.
“There’s nothing quite like high school golf, playing with the guys you go to school with, all that,” Cohen said. “I think everyone is definitely excited, ready to get back into it.
High school sports haven’t been contested in the county since last March when the coronavirus pandemic first struck. It wasn’t until the summer when local high schools were able to resume any athletic activities, at the time being limited to outdoor conditioning workouts.
As the pandemic worsened in the state in the fall and winter, more restrictions were put in place and hope began to dwindle for a speedy and complete return to high school sports competition. But optimism started to return on Jan. 25 when the state lifted the regional stay-at-home order, which gave the green light for some sports deemed “low-risk” to return.
Golf was one such sport and will be joined by cross country and swimming in the coming weeks when the MCAL is set to begin competition.
Ahead of its match Thursday, MA had been practicing as a team for about two weeks. Over that time the Wildcats were able to start adjusting to what the new world of golf would look like.
“It’s surprisingly better than I think we all thought it might be,” Cohen said.
Aside from the on-the-course adjustments, MA is also taking some extra steps away from it to protect against the spread of COVID-19. The school is currently conducting testing every two weeks, including coaches and student-athletes. On practice and game days, members of the team must also fill out contact-tracing forms. Additionally, every school in the BCL West is also undertaking constant testing, according to Marin Academy athletic director Rob Rafeh.
The resounding sentiment from the team and coaches is that they’re fine undergoing whatever safety protocols they have to. They just want a chance to compete.
“The first practice we had a week ago Monday, I told the guys how I just couldn’t be happier to be out there and you could tell they felt the same way,” Haight said. “Every match I tell them the same thing, just remind them how lucky we are to be back out here.”
Earlier in the week, Marin Academy was unsure if the match could be held. While some sports were given the go ahead on Jan. 25, the California Department of Public Health indicated that individual counties could enforce stricter guidelines based on local virus transmission.
Up until Thursday, the county’s stance on youth sports was still unclear. Rafeh said he reached out to the county to seek clarification and was told Thursday that the county is following state guidance, which indicated to him that the match could be played since golf is one of the sports allowed to compete in the purple tier.
“Obviously there was some question about whether it would happen or not but it’s definitely a big landmark for everyone and it’s good to get back into the swing of things,” Cohen said.
