If there was ever a near-perfect embodiment of life pre-pandemic versus life mid-pandemic, my Saturday was just that.
I got the opportunity to cover two women’s playoff basketball games within a four-hour time-frame — the NCHEAC state title game, featuring the Chatham Home School Thunder, and the NCHSAA 3A Elite 8 matchup between Northwood and Person.
Despite the short time in between, my experiences were drastically different.
Walking into the gym for one of the five home school state championship games being played that day at Shining Light Academy — a K-12 Christian school in Greensboro — was like entering a past life.
It felt like sporting events of old, long before Rudy Gobert’s positive coronavirus test stopped sports in its tracks on March 11, 2020.
Or was it 1920? At this point, I’d believe either one.
If you’ve ever been to an AAU basketball tournament, it had that vibe. The stands were full of passionate fans sitting in massive clusters, yelling during the game and socializing during breaks, while other teams waited along the side of the bleachers for the buzzer to sound so they could start warming up for their game.
The Thunder’s game was an overtime thriller, one that saw them come back from a seven-point deficit late in the game to ultimately win the state title.
The crowd was rowdy, loud and large. If you had been just listening, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you mistook it for Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the Staples Center.
It was everything you want in an important, nail-biting championship game.
That is, if it wasn’t March 2021 in North Carolina — a state still neck-deep in the same pandemic that Gobert became the face of (in the sports world, anyway) nearly 365 days ago.
If there were any restrictions in place or guidelines being followed, I wasn’t privy to them. Aside from the emcee — who led the room in prayer and introduced starting lineups before the games — saying that everyone in attendance should be wearing face coverings, I saw or heard nothing related to the pandemic.
No signs, no markers, no seats blocked off, nothing.
Some of the players on the court and benches were wearing masks. Others weren’t.
Some of the fans in the stands were wearing masks; many others either weren’t or had them pulled down around their chin as they spoke to their friends.
Social distancing was nonexistent. Limiting the number of people who could enter the facility wasn’t a priority. It was very nearly a packed house.
As a private school, Shining Light isn’t necessarily bound to the same restrictions as public high schools may be, but it’s still required to follow state guidelines, which it undoubtedly wasn’t.
I’d be lying if I said I felt comfortable, even as a 23-year-old, as I sat alongside hundreds of others for nearly two hours with the sheer lack of care being taken to avoid the kind of super-spreader scenario we’ve all read about.
When I left the gym at Shining Light and began my hour-long trek to Northwood High School, it was almost like I re-entered whatever time-traveling machine I must have stumbled into.
Except this time, it took me back to the present day.
When it comes to strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines and the “three Ws” that we hear preached so often, Northwood and Shining Light seem to exist on two different planets, in two separate timelines or a part of two alternate dimensions.
For the Chargers’ Elite 8 matchup with the 16th-seeded Person Rockets, there were just 25 fans in attendance to watch them clinch their first-ever trip to a state semifinal in any women’s sport.
Everyone was spread out, with well over six feet in between.
Masks were worn by everyone in attendance, including fans, players, coaches and officials, as per state mandated protocols at NCHSAA events.
Northwood staff took temperatures at the door, kept up with sign-ins and screening question answers on a laptop in front of them and gave out tickets that had to be pre-purchased, all of which were absent with the NCHEAC.
In short, it was clear that Northwood was following protocols, whereas Shining Light had none to follow.
Though there were just 25 fans in the stands, the crowd of primarily family members made sure to get loud, make their voices heard and attempt to replicate the packed house of a typical Northwood playoff game.
And it worked. The decibel level may not have been the same, but the passion and the energy were still there. Plus, the Chargers won, so that counts for something.
Last Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper signed into place Executive Order 195, which among many other things, increased attendance at indoor and outdoor sporting events to 30% capacity, with a 250-person cap on indoor venues.
The order still requires face coverings in all indoor settings with non-household members, along with six feet of social distancing, and in all outdoor settings where six feet of social distance cannot be maintained.
This new guidance, which went into effect last Friday, could be the reason why Shining Light felt comfortable to push forward with the NCHEAC tournament without limiting capacity or truly enforcing other guidelines.
However, it doesn’t take much to tell that the number of people watching the NCHEAC title games was well above 30% of the gym’s capacity — especially if social-distancing guidelines were to be maintained. And again, masks seemed overwhelmingly optional.
Moving forward, Chatham County Schools plans to operate between 10-15% capacity for fans at its high school outdoor stadiums, since “to maintain six feet of distance between individuals, we can’t accommodate 30% capacity,” John McCann, public relations coordinator for CCS, told me this week.
With indoor sports coming to a close after this weekend’s NCHSAA state basketball championships on Saturday and not starting back up until the wrestling season begins in late April, there are no immediate plans for CCS to change guidelines or increase attendance for indoor contests.
According to McCann, it’s up to the individual school to decide how it wants to sell those limited number of tickets, whether it’s first-come, first-serve or family members only.
As hard as it’s been for student-athletes to play in front of limited fans, as well as some parents to miss out on seeing their children play in person, it’s important that situations like Shining Light don’t happen in Chatham or anywhere else.
I’ve been to numerous games at all five Chatham high schools since starting at the News + Record about a month ago, including soccer, basketball and football.
While it’s been strange at times not having the stands full for playoff basketball games or season-opening football games, the atmosphere is still phenomenal. The competition is still at its peak and it truly doesn’t hinder the experience.
Luckily, with NFHS Network — a $10.99/month or $69.99/year subscription — parents, friends and other relatives who can’t attend games in person can stream them online. While it can be a bit wonky at times, it’s better than nothing.
Nearly a year ago, sports around the nation and world were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed. Every major U.S. sports league was either paused indefinitely or not in season. And high school sports were delayed, giving us abnormal seasons like football in late February.
Not being able to attend games in person with your entire family or group of friends is a bummer. I get it. But for now, the guidelines in place must be followed if we as a county and a state want to get back to the days where packed arenas are a normal occurrence, not an irresponsible outlier.
Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.