Still grappling with COVID-19

There is no sport that offers more direct contact that wrestling and, in this day of age of social distancing, it’s been hard for grapplers to get on the mat consistently.

“Numbers are low,” said Ray Reyes, El Camino head wrestling coach and Peninsula Athletic League director of wrestling. “I’m sure COVID helped people make that decision.”

In addition to COVID limiting numbers, it also did a number on the PAL schedule. So many matches were postponed and rescheduled for virus reasons that here we are at the end of the season and the biggest match on the schedule, one-loss Menlo-Atherton versus undefeated Half Moon Bay, won’t be wrestled.

“We’ve been trying, going back and forth with Brendan (Roth, HMB athletic director). It’s not going to happen. We just can’t get it together in time this late in the game,” M-A co-athletic director Paul Snow said in a voicemail. “It’ll go down as a ‘no contest.’”

Snow cited conflicting venue usage and transportation issues as the reasons, on top of the seeding meeting Wednesday night for the PAL individual championships Friday and Saturday.

But it is also emblematic of the problem PAL wrestling has had with scheduling this season. The HMB-M-A match was originally scheduled for Jan. 13 but was postponed for COVID. The two teams tried to find a common date to have the makeup match, but could never quite find a date on which both could agree. Last week, the M-A coach reported to the PAL statistician that HMB had forfeited the match, which set off a flurry of emails, with HMB assistant head coach Sam Temko saying his team didn’t forfeit anything.

That decision was not binding, however.

“Coaches don’t declare forfeits. Athletic directors do,” said Terry Stogner, PAL commissioner.

The low numbers and uncertain schedules have meant most teams in the PAL have put more of an emphasis on weekend tournaments and invitationals anyway. But even the big-name tournaments, such as the Overfelt tournament in San Jose and the Mid-Cal in Gilroy, also featured reduced fields, Reyes said. As such, most coaches focused on just getting mat time as opposed to always worrying about winning or losing. The focus, early on, became the season-ending league and Central Coast Section tournaments.

The PAL girls’ championships will take place 3 p.m. Friday at South City, with the championship rounds scheduled for approximately 6 p.m. The boys’ tournament begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at Sequoia, with the championship rounds beginning around 6 p.m.

The CCS seeding meeting is next Monday, with the boys’ and girls’ CCS tournament slated for Feb. 18 and 19 at Watsonville High School.

“We have been so cautious about limiting contact,” Reyes said. “We just want to get to the postseason.”

***

You just never know who is going to show up at the Olympics.

Jenise Spiteri, a 2010 graduate of Mercy-Burlingame, is a member of the Malta snowboarding team competing in Beijing for the Winter Olympics.

“Team” is a bit of misnomer. Not only is she the only snowboard member of the Malta team, she is the ONLY member of Team Malta. As such, she was granted the honor of being her country’s flagbearer in the opening ceremonies.

The 29-year-old Spiteri, who did not take up the halfpipe until after high school, was not a favorite in the halfpipe competition. In fact, she finished 22nd out of 22 snowboarders. But that should take nothing away from her journey to the sport’s highest levels.

“I really wanted to show the world the best snowboarding I could do and I’m a little bummed I didn’t put on the show I’m capable of,” Spiteri posted on Twitter. “However, seeing the hundred of tweets from people congratulating me here really makes me feel special. Thank you for all the support.”

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.