Tears and Disbelief as Coronavirus Cancels Youth Sports

Swimming, too, had cancellations at all levels.

The Y.M.C.A. short-course national championship, scheduled for March 30 to April 3 in Greensboro, N.C., will not be held for the first time since 1947. More than 1,400 swimmers — plus coaches and family members — were expected to descend upon Greensboro and generate an estimated $5 million in economic impact.

Jon Jolley, the director of competitive swimming at the Hickory Foundation Y.M.C.A. in Hickory, N.C., outside Charlotte, knew how important the championship meets were for high school juniors trying to lower their times and make themselves more appealing to college recruiters. He also wanted to do something for high school seniors who would not be swimming in college.

He tried to organize an alternate meet to the Y.M.C.A. nationals for Greensboro. It was met with decidedly mixed reviews.

“It was the spectrum — I had lovers out there, I had haters out there,” said Jolley, who has coached for 33 years.

But as the week wore on, and as more and more professional and collegiate sporting events were nixed, “we decided it just wasn’t worth it,” he said.

Instead, his own club held what he called a mock meet on Friday and Saturday, to give swimmers a sense of finality. It wasn’t easy, he said.

“I’ve got teenage girls crying,” Jolley said. “One of them said to me, ‘This is the most depressing day of my life.’ I said, ‘All your hard work will pay off in the future.’”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/sports/coronavirus-canceled-youth-sports.html