Eric Rueb|The Providence Journal
The leaves have fallen, the grass is no longer greenand you need a jacket all the time. Get the snow shovels ready. Winter is here.
The saving grace of the worst of the four weather seasons is it means winter sports maketheir way into the spotlight, giving us what we need to grind through four months of darkness before the sun decides to finally set after 5 p.m. again.
If everything works out, we’re due to have our first full winter sports season since 2018-19. Two seasons ago the RIIL basketball and hockey championships were interrupted by COVID-19 and last season the state played an abbreviated season.
This winter things are getting back to normal, or as close to normal as they’ve been for quite some time.
Eric Rueb: Before they were D-I college basketball players, these 10 got their start playing in the RIIL
COVID mask guidelines
First off, let's answer the obvious question — yes,masks will be required this winter.
The current mandate runs through Dec. 11 and right now that means anyone at an indoor sporting event must wear a mask, whether they’re spectating or competing. The only exceptions to this rule are swimmers (for obvious reasons) and gymnasts when they are on an apparatus (which puts them as far away from human contact as possible).
Good news for the swim world — virtual meets are over. We’re back to dual meets this winter and state championship meets are planned, once the college hosts sign off on them.
There is hope that the Rhode Island Department of Health will offer up suggestions to the governor’s office that will allow athletes to remove masks while they are competing — as in, if you’re playing a sanctioned game, the mask comes off but if you’re on the bench while your teammates play, you must wear one.
Game coverage
With a full-fledged winter comes full-fledged coverage from The Providence Journal.
First, let's get this out of the way. Our deadlines are earlier than they have been in the past. We’re basically going to print before most games are at halftime. If you are looking for box scores and results, they will be available online (subscribe, subscribe, subscribe) as long as coaches continue to send us the information in a timely fashion. This means the night of the game, not the following morning.
This is going to make game coverage tricky. If you’ve followed along in the fall, you may have noticed “gamers” that talk about more than just that one specific game. I’m going to try to get to games because it’s fun and, if you can’t tell by the intro to this column, I go stir crazy once the temps drop below 40.
So who are we going to cover? Well, the numbers from last winter told us a lot.
Basketball is a fan favorite
Page views don’t lie. There is an overwhelming desire from readers for anything and everything basketball. The ProJo Hoops Wrap did much better than expectedand that daily feature will continue this winter.
This means we need the coaches to continue to send in box scores. Taking snapshots of the scorebook worked brilliantly but with a new internet-based phone system coming, we’ll be able to answer calls (fingers crossed) for those coaches who prefer to call results in after games.
We’re going to go big with hoops because the interest is there. I look forward to it all of it, but will apologize now for this —I won’t be around the first weekend of March because of a family obligation.
Coaches can help with results of all sports
Now, hockey is a funny sport because while it doesn’t have a mass following, those who do follow are incredibly passionate.
Because I love any potential branding ideas, I came up with a new one — "Friday Night Ice." Every Friday night I’m going to a boys or girls hockey game, hopefully covering doubleheaders, and hopefully covering as many different teams as possible.
But we still need help from our hockey coaches. We need results – and we need more than snapshots of the game sheets. If coaches can send in scores, who had the goals and assists, who the goalies were and how many saves they were, it will get written up and published online. It’s winter. I’ve got nothing better to do except pray for spring’s arrival.
We want to get more wrestling results as well. Over the last few years wrestling results have been coming in less frequently. If we can start having those results emailed or called in, writeups can be written. Athletes can be given some shine.
Indoor track and swimming aretwo of the best sports as far as getting results in. They’re generally massive undertakings because there’s so many events and so much info coming in. You all are gold-medal winners as far as I’m concerned and I want to credit all the coaches for getting info in on such a consistent basis.
Deadlines make it nearly impossible to get box scores into print. They may find their way in a day late. We will have them online and I’ll be paying attention because I know what everyone is working toward — meet season.
Reach out with story ideas
During the winter, I’m always looking for stories from these sports. They might not be just about performance. They might be about someone overcoming odds, or something statistically odd that happens. I enjoy writing these stories — but they don’t come from thin air. If there’s something you think I might find interesting, please reach out.
I look forward to the Indoor Track State Championship Meet,. The State Swim Championships hold a special place in my heart and look forward to covering it.
Winter preview SZN starts next week. We plan to bring you features from each sport. That could be on a particular player, a team, or maybe an overriding storyline from the sport itself. We’re going to give you lists of Players to Watch, just like we did for the fall.
These stories will be in print and online. If you’ve followed me on any social media platform, you know what I’m going to tell you next.
Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.
If you haven’t yet, do it now.
Because it’s going to be sunny and warm before you know it.
