For Saugerties High School Class of 2015 alum Biko Skalla, giving up a steady gig with Major League Baseball for a seasonal broadcasting job with the Savannah Bananas was an easy decision.
Saugerties recreation and parks director Greg Chorvas said that the American Legion and Dutchmen baseball will play short seasons starting this month. As the teams return to play, the insurance carriers have forwarded a series of guidelines and policies that must be followed.
“I have this opportunity to try and make it to the major leagues. That’s still the dream, and I’m going to give it everything I have.”
Given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, numerous options that might be considered impractical or even bizarre under normal circumstances are at least under discussion, including postponing fall sports until spring. Flipping fall and spring sports is also a possibility, given there are fewer sports in the moderate- and higher-risk category played in the latter than the former.
Here’s the good news for runners. You can still run. Even during a public-health emergency, there are many virtual races and creative things that people are doing on line to keep themselves connected and engaged with their running compatriots.
Kingston’s team in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL, a semi-pro league) — the Stockade FC — had its season cancelled this past week, an innocent victim of the coronavirus. It’s a disappointing turn for the players and fans and for second-year coach Jamal Lis-Simmons.
All local sports have been sidetracked by the brand-spanking-new COVID-19 (sounds like a phone number from the land-line era) — which all of us peasants know as the non-scientific and plebian corona (think Mexican beer) virus (think common cold, with a twist), as well as the vicarious world of sports viewing: no NBA, no NHL, no MLB, no NCAA, no NASCAR, no NFL, no XFL, no MLS, no WWF and even, unthinkable as it may become: no more BLT, no more FBI, no more CIA and even no more BB King.
It was quite the winter sports season on the local level.
The local trainer finds it fulfilling to help others shape up.
The Kingston High School boys varsity basketball team’s stellar season ended abruptly last week with a surprise 75-49 loss to Pine Bush in the Section IX, Class AA semifinals. The game, played at Kingston’s Kate Walton Field House on Wednesday, March 4, saw the Tigers struggle from outside against a team they twice defeated during the regular season shooting from behind the arc.