There isn’t a perspective of football that Tyson Vigil hasn’t seen. Growing up, he played both 8-man and 6-man in high school before heading to Cornell College in Iowa where he got next-level taste of the 11-man game.

Since graduating, he has become an official and a volunteer assistant at Las Animas before taking the head job a year ago.

This spring, the Trojans have seen early success on the gridiron which has been difficult to come by in recent years. When their season got moved to Season C, a hunger and desire to play Brough renewed love of the the game back to the small town sandwiched between La Junta and Lamar.

Las Animas is the No. 4 team in the CHSAANow.com rankings and Vigil has been named the Denver Broncos high school football coach of the week.

The Broncos coach of the week is selected in partnership with the Broncos. Find a complete list of winners on this page.

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(Photo courtesy of Las Animas High School)

Tyson Vigil bio

Years as head coach: 2 (3-9)

Years at Las Animas: 2 (2-1 this season)

Previous stops: Las Animas assistant (2015-18); Las Animas head coach (2019-present)

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Question: Why do you coach?

Vigil: Well, I got into coaching because I love the sport; well, sports in general, but I’m loving now because I’ve started to understand the connections that I’m making with the players and the lessons that I’m hoping I’m teaching them can carry on for their lives later on. And that makes me reflect back on my own personal athletic career and all the lessons I learned. I started just for love of sports, and now it’s more like a personal connection to the athletes that I’m working with.

Q: Why do you coach the way that you coach?

Vigil: I pretty much coach the way I was coached growing up. I was real fortunate to play for a family of coaches in the Lovato’s when I played at Cheraw High School and they were a very caring, very nurturing, but stern set of coaches and they got the most out of their athletes that they could.

I just modeled myself after them, as well as my dad. He was always a coach for me growing up and he was a lot of the same and it becomes more of a character building thing than it is a wins and losses kind of thing. At least whenever I was an athlete. I just tried to kind of pass that along and pay it forward to the kids that I’m coaching now.

Q: What do you think it’s like to be coached by you?

Vigil: Well, that might depend on who you ask. I think the kids like me and they appreciate the effort that I put forward, but then on the flip side of it one of my best players, my quarterback, is my son.

I wonder, but I don’t think so, but at times there might be a little friction there. Not really, I just worry about it because it’s hard to be coaching an be dad at the same time. He seems so much like me that there’s really not that much conflict involved. If I would put myself in a player’s shoes, I would think that they would look at me like someone who cares about them as a person and as students, more so than just a football player.

Q: One of the, one of the odd benefits I’m seeing with some of the schools playing in Season C this year is that it’s almost like there’s a spark that’s reigniting interest in some programs. Has that been the case at Las Animas?

Vigil: I took over our program last year and I think a fresh change was a start in the right direction. But the fact that we didn’t get to play in the fall was a disappointment, but at the same time, a blessing. The kids realized how much they really cherish participation and competition. We did our best to satisfy that during the fall when we didn’t have football by having workouts.

By the time the actual season rolled around, the guys were hungry and they were ready to compete. And it had been so long, it was just like quenching of the thirst for them. They’re playing the best ball that Las Animas has seen in years right now. I really think it’s a lot of factors involved, but that big, long layoff of no football made them want it and appreciate it that much more. That goes for me too. I find myself rejuvenated as a coach being thatvI was away from the game for so long.

I was fortunate enough, I’m also an official, so I was able to kind of satisfy my hunger back in the fall. In fact, I was fortunate enough to officiate in the 8-man state championship game during the fall season. And I even got to do that with my dad and he and I got to work together. It was little weird to be just officiating and not coaching at the time, but at the same time, I was really missing football as a coach. I think the players felt same way.

Q: Officials tend to get so much grief, does that help your perspective from a coaching standpoint to be able to see both sides of the game?

Vigil: Actually, at times I think that it kind of works against me. As an official, and I’ve been an official a lot longer than I’ve been a coach, I sympathize and empathize with the officials. There are times where maybe I should fight a little bit more for a call that goes against us, but there have been so many times and I’ve had my rear end chewed that I don’t want to be that coach and that guy that I don’t like to deal with.

But at the same time, it also helps me to play my cards right. I know what an official wants to hear and I know what they don’t want to hear. I try to avoid those things that they don’t want to hear. And I try to say the things that will help me. It’s kind of a catch-22 at times but I think all in all having both having seen both sides of the coin, it works to my benefit.

Q: Going back to the resurgence in programs that can happen with this spring season, how do you instill that culture into a team so that hopefully that momentum carries over into the fall?

Vigil: It’s kind of a nice thing, the fact that we’re getting two football seasons out of one year. We don’t have a long layoff with different sports being being played and then, again, having that long wayoff. So we’re going to get through this season hopefully successfully, and we won’t have a very long break before we’re back at it again. My returning players next year will be pretty fresh in terms of both physical conditioning and mental conditioning. I see it being a pretty good thing, really.

Q: We’re asking kids to battle through so much adversity at this point in our lives, how have your boys handled it and what do you think is the biggest lesson that they’ve learned through high school athletics?

Vigil: This has been the craziest year of any kind of sporting or academic year that I’ve been a part of. I think that’s paying off on the field because they’ve had to fight through not being in school and once we did get back in school it looked a lot different than it did back in what I would call regular time. And so they’re having to learn to adapt to life and that pays off on the football field because they can adapt to adversity on the field.
Whenever something goes wrong on the field, they can change things and move forward and do whatever it takes to be successful.

So in some ways, it’s been a bad experience with COVID changing the whole landscape of life, but it’s also providing the student-athletes with the opportunity to be able to adapt, to change and be able to accept the fact that there are some things that are out of your control, but they have to move past those and, and move forward.

Q: Do you think that it helps grow their appreciation of high school sports at the same time?

Vigil: Oh, absolutely. Like I was saying, the fact that these guys were unable to do anything during the entire fall, they realized how much it means to them and how much they get out of it. And myself included, being away from coaching was really difficult, but whenever this season rolled around the season, I really got to soak it in. I really got to make the most of it. And I really got to appreciate the opportunities I’ve been given. And I think the kids have the same mindset.

Putting things into perspective has been the bulk of Ryan Bishop’s work this year. The COVID-19 pandemic alone has brought a new light on how seemingly simple something like playing a football game can be.

Then just over a week ago, tragedy struck in Boulder. The Kings Soopers shooting caught national attention but it was the Boulder community that has been rocked to its core. Somewhere in the midst of all this, the Boulder Panthers had to prepare for a football game.

They took the field for their season opener on March 29 and beat Mountain Range 24-14. For the kids, it was an emotional roller coaster in which they felt pain, grief and joy all in the span of 48 minutes of regulation.

After getting perhaps the most emotional win any team this year has experienced, Bishop has been named the Denver Broncos high school football coach of the week.

The Broncos coach of the week is selected in partnership with the Broncos. Find a complete list of winners on this page.

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(Steve Oathout)

Ryan Bishop bio

Years as head coach: 3 (8-13)

Years at Boulder: 3 (1-0 this season)

Previous stops: Pomona assistant 2005-06); Columbine assistant (2007); Boulder assistant (2008-14, 2017); Boulder head coach (2018-present).

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Question: Why do you coach?

Bishop: For the love of the game and to teach these young men just how important it is through the life lessons that athletics teaches us.

Q: Why do you coach the way that you coach?

Bishop: It stems from my coaches starting with my dad who’s been a coach for 30 plus years. Then it goes to my college coaches that were great role models and inspirations. I kind of consider myself the younger, old school coach. Love them up while you’re yelling at them. Once they know you care, they’re going to play hard for you. And no matter what your coaching style is, they’re going to accept it.

Q: What do you think it’s like from your players’ perspective to be coached by you?

Bishop: When we’re on the field, I think they think I’m a little bit crazy, that at times the apple has fallen very far from the sanity tree. At the end of the day, as soon as we walk off that field that they know they can call me anytime they can text me anytime we can talk about anything and they know no matter what, I have their backs. Even if they don’t like it at that moment, they’ll understand it. So I tell them all the time, you’ll understand why we do what we do and the way that we do things 10 years from now.

Q: We are asking kids to be unreasonably resilient in the last year. How resilient did you find your kids being not only after starting a spring football season and all the emotions that went into that, but especially after what happened in Boulder last week?

Bishop: To be honest, they put things into perspective for me. The level of resiliency that they have and determination and desire and want to and their integrity, it makes you take a step back and look at what you’re doing and not so much looking at the record that I have, but what these young adults are learning. They’re teaching us daily and I can’t say enough how proud I am of our senior leadership, our coaches leadership and the flexibility that everybody has to show up ready to work.

When we’ve been quarantined and now, we obviously had the tragedy happened, they don’t skip a beat. We talk about it, we understand it. We refuse to use it as an excuse.

Our thing this year is we have to stand out. We have to be better than everybody else. We have to be better in our community, be better in our building, do better in our houses. Just because something happens, we can’t use it as an excuse. We have use it as a learning opportunity and we have to stand out because of it.

Q: Sports have a weird way of becoming this method of healing. You saw it after 9/11, you see it during the pandemic when teams finally restarted returning the fields. Usually it’s something that you, me, your players are usually observing. What did you feel and what do you think your guys felt having to be that source of healing in that community?

Bishop: As soon as the lights are turned on and the ball is kicked off, it gives you the opportunity to be in a completely different world for those four quarters. For everybody involved, no matter what’s going on in your life, the tragedy to what’s going on at home to what’s going on at school, you get four quarters to live in a different world. To compete. We talk about all the time about how students want to have fun. Well it’s so much fun when you just get to compete.

And I saw it in our kids last night for four quarters, we got to forget what happened down the street. We got to forget what happened on Monday. And as soon as the game’s over, we get reflect on what we were able to do and how important this game is to our lives.

Every coach says play it like it’s your last play. And you never know with COVID, with the tragedy, with everything when that is true. I just thought with our kids last night, that for four quarters we have pay our respects to those that weren’t able to play this game. And so it was important to our kids. The, the moment of silence was great. We took our time, we took our tears. It was very emotional and it has affected every kid differently. It has affected everyone in this community differently.

Our students know that it’s an open door policy for all our coaches, for administration, for our school, that if you need to talk, let’s talk. During the game, different players play for different reasons and had different tributes during the game. It was nice to be able to kind of be in a different world for four quarters.

Q: How much do you think they’re going to savor that opportunity 10 years down the road when they think back to this year and they’re reading in the history books about COVID and then obviously about the tragedy up the road?

Bishop: I can remember when I was a junior during the Columbine massacre, and you reflect now on just how it affected our entire community. I grew up in Arvada and that was down a Littleton. One of my best friends was a student at Columbine and you reflect back on just how lucky we truly are and how, how blessed are to be able to play any game or wake up every morning and be able to go hug our parents, to be able to call our friends on the phone.

And I think in 10 years, they’re going to look back and know that they paid their respects. A lot of them don’t know how to grieve or how to deal with this. We as coaches, have had the model that we all grieve in different ways and we all need different supports.

And at the end of the day, there’s always going to be somebody, one of these coaches, an administrator or a friend that’s there for you. All you have to do is pick up the phone. And I think they’ve learned that through this last couple of weeks, really through the last year with everything.

We took to Instagram last week to ask students to send us any questions they had for our commissioner, Rhonda Blanford-Green. And those students sure delivered.

We fielded nearly 300 questions on that Instagram post and through our direct messages. We did our best to identify common questions, and ones that would be able to hit on multiple topics. As a result, we ended up with 20 questions, and we sat down with Blanford-Green to ask those questions.

The result is a conversation that spanned more than 40 minutes, and a wide range of topics.

Questions answered in the video:

• “Delayed and cancelled are two different things, right? Doesn’t the CDPHE dictate if CHSAA delays sports?”
• “When did CHSAA get word from the CDPHE that the season was going to be delayed?”
• “What are variances from the state?”
• “Why were the remaining seasons delayed, especially Season D?”
• “Why was football allowed to finish its season, and these sports got delayed?”
• “The letter from CDPHE mentioned indoor sports. How does that impact skiing?”
• “Is there a possibility our season could be cancelled?”
• “Does the CHSAA staff think that Season B will be the hardest to deal since many of the sports are going to be indoor and close contact?”
• “Why is the delay being announced so early?”
• “Why can there be club sports, and places around us can play indoor sports, but we can’t play a normal season?”
• “Will counties in level red cause indoor sports to postpone until the level decreases?”
• When will specifics on sports season be released?
• “Why can college and professional athletes play without masks and we can’t even play at all?”
• “How does it work if we graduate in May and track ends June 26?”
• “If there is a vaccine developed, will there be fans allowed?”
• “If schools don’t return to in-person learning, will sports be able to resume?”
• “Why do the seasons overlap?”
• “Why aren’t different sports getting looked at based on levels of risk?”
• “Can you play two sports in the same season?”
• “Why are you doing what you’re doing?”
• “Has the waiver idea been put into any consideration?”
• “What are your thoughts about the whole situation?”

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Troy Ward has learned very quickly when that consistency is crucial when building a successful football program.

Ward is in his second year as head coach from Rampart after being on staff for five years before that as defensive coordinator. Royer’s departure led to Ward being name as the new coach and he’s been able to keep things consistent while putting his own twist on the program.

Ward started 1-4 as coach of the Rams but has gone 8-2 in his last 10 games. The only blemish for Rampart this year was an overtime loss to Vista Ridge but it was just last week that the Rams beat Class 4A RPI No. 1 Fountain-Fort Carson 17-14.

With such a signature win for his team, Ward earned this week’s distinction as the Denver Broncos high school football coach of the week.

The Broncos coach of the week is selected in partnership with the Broncos. Find a complete list of winners on this page.

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(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Troy Ward bio

Years as head coach: 2 (9-6)

Years at Rampart: 2 (4-1 this season)

Previous stops: Mitchell assistant coach/defensive coordinator (2002-13); Rampart assistant coach/defensive coordinator (2014-18); Rampart head coach (2019-present).

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Question: Why do you coach?

Ward: I coach for the connection and impact that we can have on the kids. We strongly believe here at Rampart that we have to take advantage of every single day of the four years that we have with these kids so that we impact the next 40 years of their life.

Q: What do you think it’s like from their perspective to be coached by you?

Ward: I’m called grumpy a lot. So it’s good thing that have other coaches that are a lot nicer than I am. In all seriousness, the relationship that we build with our kids here, it’s one of mutual respect. They know the expectation is that they show up every day, work hard and get better. That is an expectation that we make clear to them from the time they come in as freshmen until they graduate and have their last practice as a senior.

And that builds a mutual respect between the coaches and the kids. They know that we’re not here just for wins and losses. We’re here to A.) see them walk across the (graduation) stage as a senior and B.) go on and be good members of society.

Q: Do you think the continuity part with you being on staff for so long and then being named head coach when Rob (Royer) left, helped with that relationship aspect?

Ward: Absolutely. None of the expectations changed. None of the overall system things changed. Obviously I put my own little spin on it, but the system that Rob helped install here and the program success that he had here definitely carried over.

The coaching staff didn’t change at all when he left other than the fact that he was gone. So, the continuity for the last seven years has been here. We all know and respect each other. We understand everything about the offense, defense and special team system.

Q: In a shortened season that a lot of people might have thought wasn’t going to happen, just how crucial can it be to a program to get the kind of win you did last Thursday, regardless of what happens for the rest of the season?

Ward: It’s incredibly important for the kids to build on that confidence and success that we had against Fountain-Fort Carson, but in reality that success started in the overtime loss to Vista Ridge. When we lost that game, our kids played incredibly well in that game. And it came down to a 2-point conversion and we came up one point short, but our kids came out of that game knowing that we can play with anybody and we can beat anybody.

So last week against Fountain-Fort Carson, it wasn’t a surprise to our program. Our kids show up every day, work hard and they get better. They’re not afraid to play anybody.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Q: Does it help when you have an established leader on the field like Cale Cormaney? How much does he mean to your program and how much does he help you as an on-field leader?

Ward: Cale is a great player. But even more than that, he is a great leader on this football team. But it’s not just Cale. We have a group of seniors that is providing us leadership, both in production and behind the scenes, guiding these young, younger guys in how to produce in our system and how to live up to our expectations.

Our leadership this year from our seniors has been better than we’ve had in the last four years.

Q: With COVID-19 just wreaking havoc on everyone’s life and especially high school football, what do you tell your kids for the rest of the season, whether you have them for one more week or whether you get them for three more weeks?

Ward: Since we were allowed to start in June, the message has been the same, enjoy every single day and treat it as if it’s our last day because you don’t know if it is every day. We come out here every day that any football team is allowed to practice, play a game, be together as a team. It is a gift right now. We do not take anything for granted. And honestly, we try to make every single day count.

Q: Everyone knows that kids are resilient, but what have you seen in the resiliency for your team specifically that has impressed you and your staff?

Ward: They have great attitudes. One phrase that they hear all the time from us is attitude and effort. It goes a long way. We had a possibility — it ended up not happening — two weeks ago of half of our team quarantined. And that happened during a practice where half of our team had to go home. It ended up not happening, the quarantine was was false.

But immediately, every kid that was out there after the other half of the team left, they were having fun. They were like, okay, let’s go. We’re playing Ironman football. So their attitude about day-to-day changes, being able to adapt and overcome, it has never wavered. They never lowered their heads. They never get upset. They just take it and move on.

Q: What are you going to tell future classes about what the kids had to endure this season and help them kind of maintain that attitude of enjoy every second and relish every moment when they may not be in a situation where that’s more of a reality than you would think?

Ward: We have to take this experience right now, but both as a coaching staff and as a program, as a whole and build off it. The lessons that our kids are learning right now as freshmen all the way through these seniors are things that they’re going to use for the rest of their lives on how to adapt to things that happen.

Life is tough and we are gifted in this high school that we have overall very good families, very good academics in the school, but our kids need to learn that life is not going to be easy. It’s not going to be kind to them.

So in the future, we’re just going to keep reminding them that anything can happen. You never know.

(Photo courtesy of Bill Forgey)

Bill Forgey just sounds like a man who means business. He initially got thrown into the coaching ranks when a middle school wrestling coach was needed and he hasn’t looked back since.

Now prowling the sidelines for Walsh’s football program, Forgey is hoping to lead his team to a winning season. Despite dropping the first game of the year he steered the team back on path with a 16-12 win over Branson/Kim last week.

That win was good enough to make to him the Denver Broncos high school football coach of the week.

The Broncos coach of the week is selected in partnership with the Broncos. Find a complete list of winners on this page.

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Bill Forgey bio

Years as head coach: 5 (13-23)

Years at Walsh: 5 (1-1 this season)

Previous stops: Walsh assistant coach 2011-15; Walsh head coach (2016-present).

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Question: Why did you get into coaching?

Forgey: It started with wrestling. I wrestled and played football in school. And then (Walsh) was needing a junior high wrestling coach. So I stepped up there and then our high school coaches left and I took over that. My kids all graduated, the last one graduated in 2013 and I was going to give it up, but nobody stepped up to take over. And then with football, I just enjoy working with the kids and basically what it is.

Q: What do you think it’s like to be coached by you?

Forgey: I’m not sure how to answer that one. The kids seem to keep coming back out for me. I mean, we didn’t have an abundance of kids last year. We had seven kids playing six man football and played four games with six kids. They seem to enjoy it.

Q: With the unusual circumstances surrounding this season, how quickly when the option came up were you guys aware that you were going to choose to play in Season A?

Forgey: I was wanting to play in Season A because we’d already decided that you don’t want to play spring football out here on the plains. When you get into the spring, you get those hard, just bitter cold winds. I’d rather be inside wrestling at that time.

Q: What is it about the 6-man game that you enjoy the most?

Forgey: It’s hard. Honestly, I’d rather play 8-man, but the 6-man games give the smaller schools a chance to keep their programs. Our first year with 6-man, we were undefeated until we met Eads and we forgot the center was eligible and their center just killed us.

It’s just about learning different things. The quarterback, the first person to touch the ball, can’t run across the line of scrimmage. It’s hard to break kids in right after you’ve just come down from 8-man, but it’s a wide open game. I’m still learning.

Q: Is it safe to say it was a big adjustment for you as well as the kids?

Forgey: Oh yeah. The one-on-one tackling is you have to be good at it and because if you’re not, you get a lot of points scored on you.

Q: How important was it for this year for you guys to go out and get that first win against Branson/Kim?

Forgey: That was a big one. When we went to Mountain Valley, we didn’t play bad, but we had 12 penalties for 95 yards and we had one or two touchdowns called back. At the end of the three, they were up on us 19-8, but we were still in the game and then the fourth quarter just kind of fell apart on us. Our offense hasn’t been clicking very good.

Against Branson/Kim, they were up 12-0 on us going into the fourth and our offense finally started clicking some and we scored two (touchdowns) with our extra points and the defense played excellent. I’m starting three freshmen, two seniors and one junior and my freshmen are starting to pick it up and they’re doing a good job. All of them have done a good job.

Q: How challenging is that when half of your team is made up of kids who hadn’t seen the varsity level before?

Forgey: You know what, the freshmen I have now, I have six total on the team, but I’ve had them since fifth grade playing junior high football. They progress, but it’s a big step from junior high to high school, even though you played that game.

They’re just trying to figure it out. They’ve finally grown some and they’re figuring out their footwork and stuff like that. They’re coming along well.

Q: In this shortened season, what’s your measurement of success for this team?

Forgey: We haven’t had very many winning seasons since after our first year of 6-man. We’re just taking it one game at a time. We have Cheraw this week and right now they’re undefeated. So that’s another big game and we have some tough games coming up here, so they’re going to have to step up.

I think it’s going to be tough for us to make the playoffs because that league up north with Stratton/Liberty, Eads, Cheyenne Wells and all those teams, that’s a pretty tough league. But I’d like to have a winning record by the end of the season.

(Photo courtesy of Joe Roskam)

There’s no mistaking the upward trend that’s happening in Teller County. For the last several years, Woodland Park hasn’t necessarily been a dominant football team but there has been significant growth and the team overall looks ready for a breakout season.

A big part of that reason is the consistency that head coach Joe Roskam has brought to the program. From the time he was born, Roskam has been a football guy. He grew up with an old school background, but since he’s joined the coaching ranks has grown more creative with his style of the game.

That creativity worked out in the Panthers first game of the year in which they took a road trip down to Alamosa and came away with 21-13 win over the Mean Moose.

The expectations for his boys are high this season and after getting a win in Week 1, Roskam has been named the Denver Broncos high school football coach of the week.

The Broncos coach of the week is selected in partnership with the Broncos. Find a complete list of winners on this page.

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Joe Roskam bio

Years as head coach: 17

Years at Woodland Park: 9 (1-0 this season)

Previous stops: Harrah (Okla.) assistant (1997-99), Cripple Creek/Victor head coach (2000-03), Sierra head coach (2004-11); Woodland Park head coach (2012-present).

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Question: Why do you coach?

Roskam: The people that made a big difference in my life were my coaches when I was a kid. A lot of it has to do with my dad too. My dad was a small guy, but loved football. From the day I was born, I mean, I was 18 months old on the beach in North Carolina in a diaper playing with a football. I wouldn’t know where I would be without the game. I’m just doing my very best to instill those same desires and wants and, you know, and really turn these young people into upstanding young men.

That’s the goal, right? I know it’s cliche, but [he’d say] you want to see what kind of team do I have? He goes, I’ll let you know in 20 years when I find out we’re kind of men they are. That’s stealing it from the best, but that’s definitely a big part of it.

Q: Why do you coach the way that you coach?

Roskam: That that also comes from some of some of the situations that you grew up in. They have some coaches that were hard-nosed. They just wanted to get in there and run power all the time and you’re going to gut it out. We’ll run through a wall for you.

I was fortunate enough in my very first coaching job. I got to coach under a legend and his name was Glenn Poole in Oklahoma. He won several state championships and did it the right way. We were able to really have a lot of fun with the way that we did it. We ran our offense and the way we were in our defense and just being attacking in nature all the time. I was fortunate to be in Oklahoma the years that Bob Stoops finally took over, I was coaching in Oklahoma and Bob Stoops took over at the University of Oklahoma and Mike Leach happened to be the offensive coordinator. We got to talk with those guys a little bit and it just stuck.

That’s when we started developing our spread passing game and trying to play as fast as we possibly can. There were a lot of people that I looked up to in the coaching profession and was just fortunate enough to be under a guy that really encouraged me to learn. Challenged me as a person, challenged me as a coach and a young guy. I give it up to Coach Poole and then our next one was Coach Battle.

I learned so much from those guys on how it’s supposed to be and what our job really was. At first I thought we were just supposed to be football coaches, but the amount of time that they spent really getting to know young people and how to make a difference was huge. I can’t thank them enough, you for giving me that opportunity.

Q: From your players’ perspective, what do you think it’s like to be coached by you?

Roskam: The expectation levels are high. Sometimes I would say that it’s fun, but it’s also challenging and that’s kind of the goal. How do we make it a practice challenging, but also want them to come back every single day and give everything that they’ve got? You have to find that balance between fun and really getting after them a little bit. So I think it’s tough but at the same time, we’re able to laugh at each other. We hug each other a lot. We say we love you a lot. We use those kinds of words and hopefully that’s what they would say.

Q: What impressed you the most about your boys’ ability to really start practice as quickly as you were able to start it and put themselves in a position to start the season 1-0?

(Photo courtesy of Joe Roskam)

Roskam: That’s really on them. We were able to do some work over the summer, we were able to lift but we weren’t able to do a whole lot more than that. I think the consistency and the proof in what we’ve been doing really helps us. We’ve been doing the same thing. For years, I actually started with this senior group when they were in fourth grade. I actually have a picture of me with this group of kids when they were just a pee wee league. The year before, our group here wasn’t able to form a team and I just said that’s never going to happen again. I actually started a club and this was my very first team. And for my son now as a senior, he was part of that group.

I started coaching these guys when they were that little, so they know the expectation. They’ve been coming up with me since they were little bitty and that’s where they learned the expectations. As soon as we walked in, we just lined up and went “Hey, we need four-right, 63.” Bam. Done. “We need three-right, 72.” That’s just how it is. We didn’t have to take a long time to install. They were just ready to go. Now we had to get them back in shape because you know, they got a little chubby over COVID. That’s been the hardest part is just getting them back in shape.

Q: Everyone talks about football being a great tool for life lessons. What are the life lessons that are going to be unique to the group of football players this year that you won’t find anywhere else?

Roskam: The level of resiliency is going to be next to none. You’re going to have to be uncompromisingly consistent right now in everything that you do. We’re seeing around the state that some teams have chosen to hang out with other people outside of school and have had their seasons not necessarily cut short because they’ll become they’ll be back, but they’re going to miss games. That idea of excellence in everything that we do, excellence in everything is going to be huge. You’re going to have to make really great choices outside of here just to protect the program. That’s going to be part of it. We’re really asking a lot of these kids to put something above themselves.

Everybody is tired of computers and they’re tired of being isolated, but they have to be able to take care of the program. They’re going to have to be extremely disciplined and still sacrificing in order for you to complete all six games. Look at the Broncos right now, they’re missing a game this week. That’s going to be one of those life lessons that everybody learns. We’re going to come out of this and see that we have kids that are even more disciplined as a result.

Q: Is it possible that once this season is over, that you and maybe more importantly, your boys get to appreciate the game of football more than maybe you ever thought you would?

Roskam: I don’t even think it’s going to be after the season. I think we’re doing that right now. I mean, we’re grateful every day that we get to get out and play, because not everybody’s able to do it. And we actually got to play Friday night and there were several teams in the state that weren’t able to, whether they’re going in the spring or due to COVID, they had their games canceled.

We’re appreciative of everything that we get right now, and I’m so thankful that CHSAA and the governor actually allowed us to play. Some of these stipulations are really, really tough and some of our travel because of the way that our leagues have to be now are just crazy.

Trying to get everybody down to Alamosa was difficult in itself. And the fact that our kids were able to overcome those restrictions and guidelines, and it took us forever because we can only dress 10 at a time in a gym to get everybody out on the field and ready before the game and then show up and actually perform just shows their aptitude for excellence right now.

They had every excuse in the world to go down there and not perform, but they did. They showed up and they played. I’m just excited that we’re getting to play and just seeing these guys grow. It’s awesome.

(Photo courtesy of Joe Roskam)

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

The cross country season can begin competition on Saturday.

Before that happens, we caught up with Jenn Roberts-Uhlig, the assistant commissioner in charge of the sport, to talk about key modifications to the sport in order to ensure it complies with state guidelines around the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Question: How will things look different this season?

Roberts-Uhlig: Typically, a season will have 11 meets, and that has been reduced to seven. We have shortened the season by two weeks in order to have our state championship event completed prior to the late-fall moratorium.

In working with the Governor’s COVID Response Team and other health agencies, we worked together to get cross country up and running within the established guidelines. These guidelines allow us to have starts in waves of no more than 25, with a minimum of two minutes between the waves starting.

Regular season races can have no more than 50 participants total. At regionals, there will be no more than 75 total. At the state meet, it’s 100 per classification, per gender.

Start and finish lines could look different, and we’ve approved time-trial starts.

Truly, for cross country — and really, for all of our sports — it is very important that coaches, teams and community members abide by the state guidelines to ensure safety and risk minimization for athletes, and to allow us to finish the season. That’s not just for the regular season. Everyone is going to have to follow these guidelines.

This means things like wearing masks, appropriate social distancing, and not congregating in one area. The start and finish areas may look different for spectators, as well.

Q: What about masks?

Roberts-Uhlig: Athletes are going to be required to have a mask at the start line. As they proceed into a part of the course where they aren’t around a mass of people, they can remove the mask, but it must be back on at the finish line.

Spectators are going to be required to wear a mask at all times. They need to social distance outside of their family units. Again, we need everyone to follow these guidelines to ensure we can finish the season.

Q: We’ve already heard about schools moving away from big invitationals and are instead planning dual, triangular, and quad meets. Can you expand on that?

Roberts-Uhlig: Yes, and this is allowed so long as they meet the requirements of 50 athletes per race.

This season, we expect to see more of those types of meets as everyone navigates trying to stay within the maximum athletes allowed, and trying to limit the amount of teams participating.

Also, as league meets and big invitationals navigate this, they are looking at setting up multi-day meets, such as having two races of 50 per day.

Q: What about the postseason? What is that going to look like?

Roberts-Uhlig: Qualifying into regionals will look different. We’ll have more information on this soon.

State will continue to be held at Norris Penrose Event Center on Oct. 17. There will be plenty of time in between races to allow for a transition.

We are now putting classifications together at the state meet, so, for example, 4A girls and 4A boys will run back-to-back. As soon as those races are over, those participants, coaches and spectators will exit the venue, and the next classification will come in following a buffer of at least an hour. We need to be sure they’re cleared out between races.

Doing this will allow us to have 100 participants, per classification, per gender at the state event.

Q: Are you seeing schools add cross country this fall?

Roberts-Uhlig: Yes, we have had about 10 schools add a program. In addition, existing programs are seeing a lot more kids come out within their school.

In general, the cross country community is growing as kids are finding that this is a way to participate this fall, and that’s exciting to see.

(Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)

The softball season begins with games on Thursday.

With things ramping up, we caught up with Bert Borgmann, the assistant commissioner in charge of the sport, to dig into the details about the modifications which were made to ensure softball complies with current health guidelines.

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Question: Softball was among the first sports to be given a green light to play this fall. Can you go into detail as to why?

Borgmann: Early on, softball was identified by the Governor’s COVID Response team as a sport that could be played because it easily adjusts to the social distancing requirements.

Resuming athletics and activities requires answering and demonstrating certain safety measures to many different groups — including state, health, and educational decision makers. We believe softball can complete their season if all those involved — players, coaches and schools — adhere to the guidelines.

Q: Many sports have made adjustments to the sport seasons because of COVID. What are some ways that softball will look different?

Borgmann: Since the COVID-19 virus is a new disease and information changes quickly, we determined that to maintain the health and safety guidelines, limiting potential contact through games was a logical step. So teams will play 16 regular season games at maximum, as opposed to the typical 23.

When it became apparent that other sports would have to move to abbreviated seasons, and the potential for regional flare-ups this fall, reducing the season length was appropriate.

Teams are also limited to 12 players on a game day roster, and teams will qualify directly to the state tournament from the regular season.

[Note: These health and safety guidelines are outlined in the softball bulletin.]

Q: Why is the game roster limited to 12 players?

Borgmann: Current state-mandated guidelines allow for a total of 25 players on any one field. We adjusted to 12 players for each team to maintain equity. CHSAA will respond with appropriate modifications to this roster limit should restrictions be lessened in coming weeks.

Teams may have more than 12 players on their varsity roster, but can only put 12 in uniform for any single game. A player may be replaced on the roster after each game of the state tournament has been completed, but no more than 12 players may be suited up for each team during each game.

Q: What was the reason to have teams qualify directly to the state brackets and not have regionals this year?

Borgmann: As noted earlier, we want the players to have as long a regular season as possible. And, coupled with the exposure issues that arise for schools when there are multiple days of a state tournament, we looked at how to conduct a one-day tournament for 16 teams in each of the classifications.

The sport had already adjusted its qualifying and seeding procedure to employ RPI, CHSAANow Coaches Poll and MaxPreps rankings, so this will provide a competitive field for those that qualify.

Q: Will players be required to wear masks?

Borgmann: The requirement of masks is determined by state, county and local health officials. Currently, the entire state is under a requirement to wear masks when in public places.

Players, coaches and all team personnel, including umpires, are required by CHSAA to wear masks upon entering and exiting the ballpark. The state, county and local rules will dictate if they have to wear face-coverings on the field.

Additionally, players and coaches must wear mask and social distance while in the team dugouts. That may require some players placed outside the field or inside near the fences when on offense.

Borgmann: A final thought: If we want to see the 2020 season come to completion with the crowning of a state champion, it is imperative that all those involved in the sport follow the guideline established by the state, county and local health departments, along with the CHSAA. We have a personal responsibility to ensure that we protect the sport we love.

And that may mean doing things we do not like, but it’s the only way we can have a positive conclusion to the season!

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

With girls volleyball’s move to the spring, we thought it was a good idea to take a glance at more info about the move.

So we caught up with Bethany Brookens, the assistant commissioner who oversees volleyball, to ask her some questions.

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Question: What was the reasoning behind moving volleyball to the Season C in March?

Brookens: We worked really hard to try to offer girls volleyball this fall, and I was very optimistic that it would be approved. There are 346 of our 363 member schools that offer girls volleyball. That’s 95 percent of our membership. We wanted to give them an opportunity to fully participate and engage with a sport at the start of school.

With that being said, when we found out on Tuesday that volleyball was not approved to move forward in Season A, we placed it in Season C to maintain consistency with sports that traditionally compete in the same season. So volleyball is with other traditional fall sports, like football, boys soccer and field hockey.

Q: Why wasn’t volleyball placed in another season, such as D, or B?

Bethany Brookens. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

Brookens: When looking where to place volleyball, we had to take a global approach to figure out what was best for all high school participants across the state. The reality is that this is not just about volleyball. Knowing that facility space would be tough, as well as overlap of student-athletes, made the process tricky.

With all the winter sports being moved to Season B, we could not place volleyball there due to a lack of gym space, and the fact that many smaller and rural schools have a high number of basketball players who also play volleyball.

We did look to try to move girls volleyball to Season D, where our traditional spring sports are now offered. We wanted to offer volleyball during a season that would allow girls to have as many opportunities for participation as possible, which aligns with Title IX. If we were to move it to Season D, this would only limit participation opportunities for girls.

There are five other girls sports offered in Season D — most notably, track and field, which is a huge sport for our small schools and rural communities. Again, this is a state-wide decision. We are not just making decisions for metro-area volleyball players.

There are nearly 17,000 girls who play volleyball as part of our school programs across the state. We looked to do what is best for all female student-athletes interested in playing volleyball and all of our sports as a whole. We didn’t want to limit participation opportunities in other high school activities.

Q: What about club volleyball and high school volleyball now sharing a season?

(Dustin Price/dustinpricephotography.com)

Brookens: It’s unfortunate that the main club volleyball season overlaps with Season C. Colorado state law, and our bylaws, allow students to participate in both a high school season and a club season concurrently, with permission from their principal.

With that being said, realistically, it may be tough for some players to do both. I know that club coaches and high school coaches have high expectations for their players, and they should. I do not view us as in competition with club volleyball.

Families and student-athletes may ultimately have to make a choice and a decision that is best for them. We are in the midst of a pandemic, and things are not going to be normal, or fair. We are living through challenging times.

If athletes choose to play club instead of high school this year, we understand their decision. At the same time, this may open up other opportunities for high school student-athletes who may not have had an opportunity to participate for the high school team otherwise.

CHSAA is an organization for all student-participants, not only the high-profile players who may have college opportunities after they graduate.

(Dustin Price/DustinPricePhotography.com)

Football has been moved to the spring as part of Season C of the new 2020-21 CHSAA sports calendar.

What does that mean for the sport? We caught up with CHSAA assistant commissioner Adam Bright, who oversees football, to ask.

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Question: What was the reasoning behind moving football to the spring?

Bright: Given current state guidelines, football and contact sports would not be able to resume on a normal calendar.

This is a year where we have to forget what the top of the calendar says. It really doesn’t matter what month it is. We have to be focused on the fact that the season is able to play, period. The fact that we are able to give these kids a chance to compete, to participate with their teammates, learn from their coaches, is what matters.

Q: OK spill the details … how many games, what do playoffs look like, and so on? What’s the plan?

Bright: It will start on Feb. 22, and run through May 8. Games will begin on March 4. There will not be a scrimmage week, nor will there be “foundation games” this season. Because of that, games will begin at the end of the second week of practice. Thursday, March 4 would be the first allowable game, meaning that teams will conduct practices Monday through Saturday during that first week, then would need three practices from Monday to Wednesday of the second week to achieve the mandatory nine practices prior to the first game.

The football season will be seven weeks long. Given that football is played only one game per week, seven games allows for a season that resembles a “normal” season and maximizes contests during the same number of weeks as other sports.

Football is being allowed to start practice a week earlier than other sports in Season C because of the required number of practices to begin play. And because it only has one game per week, the football postseason is extended an additional week to allow for a longer postseason.

Q: So with the season being reduced to seven games, how will scheduling work?

Bright: To build a schedule, we will build off of what their fall 2020 season was to look like. We will send this information to athletic directors so that there is a clear understanding of what schedules will look like.

The overarching goal is to have teams begin their schedules roughly midway through what would have been their normal schedule. For example, 5A and 4A will begin in Week 4 and play games 4-10 as games 1-7. In 3A the season would include Weeks 5-11, with 2A and below starting on Week 4 and playing through Week 10. Our friends in 6-man football would play games regularly scheduled in weeks 3 through 9 as games 1-7.

Obviously, there are things like bye weeks and out-of-state games for some teams in Weeks 4 and 5 mostly, and we will work in conjunction with athletic directors to build a database of open weeks for teams to fill. The expectation is teams will play their condensed season as scheduled, utilizing the database as a resource to fill previously scheduled bye weeks.

Q: In my best Jim Mora voice: “Playoffs? You want to talk about playoffs?”

Bright: The football postseason will see a reduction to eight teams in each classification. These eight teams will all enter the postseason at the same time, and championships will all be done on the same weekend.

As we have seen, things can change quickly within the pandemic, and as such, logistics like location and time for these championship games will be a work in progress as we move closer to that time. Seeding and qualification for the postseason will be based on the four data points within the CHSAA Seeding Index, with the top eight eligible teams in each classification being placed in the postseason.

Q: Are there any practice limits or other items that would be different than a “normal” season?

Bright: Again, as things can change during this pandemic, we would have to take a wait and see approach. We have discussed various practice guidelines and scenarios based on different levels of COVID-19 restrictions and outbreaks. To speak to what the end of February and the month of March will require on the 4th of August is premature.

If we do foresee needs for practice guidelines that differ from those in the past, I can assure our coaches that they will have plenty of time to implement any changes if necessary.