OHSAA commissioner advocates one-week dead period

Kids need a break, and so do their families.

That is the idea Dr. Dan Ross, commissioner of the OHSAA, conveyed on April 17 during the annual spring luncheon of the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association.

When the notion of a one-week dead period for all school extracurricular activities came up, Ross gave it two thumbs-up. He just doesn’t think it will gain much momentum statewide.

“I’m a 1,000 percent advocate of that,” Ross said. “We put it through to the principals — it wasn’t a referendum — and it wasn’t close. It was about 70-30 (for the negative). But I think it would be a great thing for families, especially coaches’ families.”

The rigors of playing scholastic athletics is as demanding as ever. Many, if not most, sports overlap. Multi-sport athletes are pushed to the limit even further, which has increased the number of one-sport athletes who “specialize.”

A mandated dead-period break, Ross said, would be nice.

“I believe there ought to be a dead period on or around the Fourth of July,” Ross said. “No. 1, to give the custodians a chance to clean the building without anyone being there.”

Ross chuckled, but then got serious.

“You know who would appreciate it the most? The wives of the coaches. When we had that proposal on the table, the people I heard from the most were the wives of coaches saying, ‘Please, please, please,’ because they can’t plan a vacation.”

Ross said many times, players and their families shelve any plans for a vacation because they are told — or believe — that if they miss open gym sessions or weightlifting, their standing on their team would be in jeopardy.

“So they’re not going to leave,” Ross said.

A mandated hiatus would be nice. It’s just not likely.

“(Kids) work hard enough,” Ross said. “The other part is booster clubs and if everyone doesn’t do it. Then they say, ‘We lost to them, but they practiced when we took the week off.

“There are schools who take time off, and I applaud them for that.”

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