Outrage Greets State Tournament Cancellations

CONNECTICUT — The anticipated outrage over Tuesday's announcement by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) to cancel the remainder of the state's high school winter tournaments reached a fever pitch on social media, with reactions ranging from bitter disappointment to outright rage.

Several hundred high school students, a number of coaches and even some athletic directors arrived in the parking lot of the CIAC headquarters in Cheshire Wednesday morning. Many of the student-athletes were holding signs and chanting, including "Let us play" and "We want Glenn," a reference to Glenn Lungarini, CIAC executive director who made the announcement of the cancellations during a media briefing late Tuesday morning.

Following the CIAC's decision, made out of widespread concern over the coronavirus, countless posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets expressed the frustration, anger and crushed feelings of many high school athletes, coaches and parents.

Jake Walker, a 2019 graduate of Fairfield Prep who was the winning goaltender in the Jesuits' 5-2 victory over Notre Dame-West Haven in last year's Div. I boys ice hockey tournament, created an online petition Tuesday on change.org, addressed to CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. He is asking for officials to reconsider the decision to cancel the winter tournaments, some of which were in progress as far as the quarterfinal rounds.

The complete text of the petition reads:

To the CIAC, you have broken the hearts of all players, families, and coaches involved in this years winter sports tournament competition. Most notably those seniors who have dedicated their entire lives to their respective sports, many of whom will never play again after this year. This meant everything to them. These tournaments are something they cannot get back.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, many schools, universities, and sports teams are taking precaution to prevent the spread of the disease. However, cancelling the entirety of the CIAC Winter State Tournament is absolutely unprecedented and unacceptable.

CIAC Exec. Director Glenn Lungarini remarked "We feel [cancelling the tournaments] should give [the schools] the opportunity to focus on the educational needs of our students."

These tournaments are an educational need.

Not only do these sports provide an environment for kids to compete on stage in front of their friends and family, but they also provide a space for kids to form inseparable bonds with their teammates, and memories like these tournaments are the things they will cherish for life and will never be able to get back.

Therefore, just as many schools' classes are moving to an online format, signers of this petition would like to come to a compromise with the CIAC, to allow the continuation of the state tournament with a restricted spectator audience, with the condition that games are live streamed on the internet. We understand that the tournaments are unable to carry on as normal in previous years, and postponing would be a scheduling nightmare, and for that reason we would like to compromise with the committee.

Even though the atmosphere of each game will not be what the kids hoped for, at least they will be given the chance to finish what they have invested their time, heart and soul into for their entire lives. Please reconsider your decision.

Sincerely,

Winter Sports Athletes & Friends

Note: Amid this massive distraction, any tournament games taking place today or tomorrow should be postponed until Thursday.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, more than 86,000 people had signed the online petition.

Bloomfield girls basketball coach Katie DaCosta, whose team had steamrolled into the Class M semifinals by an average victory margin of nearly 55 points per game, wrote on her Faceboook page, "My heart is truly broken for my girls and all athletes who have been impacted by this decision. As a coach we ask our athletes day in and day out to buy in to our program, to leave 100 percent on and off the court, to be committed to not only us, but their teammates. These student athletes, spend more time with us during the winter season then they do with their own families. As coaches they are more than basketball players. They become our family and when my girls hurt, I hurt, when they make mistakes or need help it is on me to help guide them. But as a coach I have no answers. I have no way to help heal this pain or give them a way to fight for another common goal. They look to us for direction for an explanation and I have none. I am proud of my girls for what they have accomplished. To all the winter athletes I am sorry."

Enfield/East Granby/Stafford hockey coach Frank Genovese, whose team won its first-round Div. III matchup against Newtown just hours before the CIAC decided to end the tournaments, expressed disappointment that the remaining games would be canceled.

"I'm meeting with the kids [Tuesday] at the rink to talk about the decision. I know they are all very disappointed at not being able to continue with the tournament," he said.

Notre Dame-West Haven basketball coach Jason Shea told GameTimeCT.com he and his players "refuse to accept this decision. We are going to continue to practice."

One former high school athlete from Connecticut, now a college student in Vermont, said, "I understand precaution, but this is where precaution becomes mass hysteria."

Several colleges announced they were sending students home, conducting classes online for the rest of the semester. The Ivy League announced cancellation of its yearly basketball tournament, which determines the league's representative in the NCAA tournament, and said regular season champion Yale would participate in March Madness.