With programs on hold, athletes wait and wonder

By Mike Zummo
Posted 12/23/20

 

When the 2019-20 basketball season ended – way back at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marlboro boys’ and girls’ basketball teams had their eyes on the next …

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With programs on hold, athletes wait and wonder

Posted

When the 2019-20 basketball season ended – way back at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marlboro boys’ and girls’ basketball teams had their eyes on the next season.
Now, the pandemic is messing with the beginning of that season. Basketball is deemed a high-risk sport by the New York State Dept. of Health. Basketball has not been authorized to compete by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The Mid-Hudson Athletic League had postponed the start of winter sports to Jan. 4, right after winter recess, but on Dec. 11 the New York State Public High School Athletic Association dropped a double whammy.
All state championships were canceled, and all high-risk sports were postponed until authorized by Cuomo.

Marlboro senior Liz Lofaro, a senior on the girls’ basketball team was in school and saw the news come across.
“I was so upset and disappointed,” she said. “It was so sudden, and I wasn’t expecting it because sports were supposed to start in January. For every athlete, it’s been a waiting game. We keep waiting and waiting and everything keeps getting pushed back. It’s upsetting.”
Marlboro boys’ basketball coach Mike Koehler said the state’s decisions were expected.
“You see the issues college basketball’s having,” Koehler said. “They’re on pause and it’s not shocking that they postponed us.”
Many programs in Marlboro enter their seasons with eyes on not just a sectional title. The football, baseball and softball teams are almost always in the mix, and both basketball teams are defending Section 9 Class B champions.
Both teams finished their seasons with losses in empty gyms in the first week of the pandemic before the remainder of the winter state championships were canceled.
Both Marlboro basketball teams had enough returning strength to look toward a section championship and advancing beyond.
“We were coming in with a strong set of kids,” Lofaro said. “We have our six-foot sophomore center (Hannah Polumbo). I think coming after two years of winning sectional championships, we had our eyes set on it again. This year, with a strong group of kids, we hope we’ll be able to do that this year.”
Koehler said he was talking with one of his players, Alex Grzechowski about it and he was bummed about not having states.
“Every year, when we play that’s one of our goals,” Koehler said. “He was definitely disappointed talking about that in school today.”
Still, the teams have been preparing as much as they can in the event a season is approved. Both teams have been having individual workouts within a hybrid setting. If a player is in school on a certain day, they can participate in a workout.
That was the case until the Dec. 17 snowstorm and the school’s transition to remote learning this week heading into winter recess.
The Iron Dukes are expecting about six seniors back and the girls are expecting four and he’d hate to see them lose their final shot at a season.
“I’ve been trying to keep busy,” Lofaro said. “I’m trying to keep my hopes up. Maybe we’ll get some good news. I know every kid’s dream is to win a state championship. Hopefully, we’ll have a season and win a section at least. I’m trying to stay positive and praying we have a season.”