Carlsbad High soccer coaches react to NMAA postponement due to COVID-19

The New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) has postponed high school football and soccer for the fall semester due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic with the hopes of having a shortened spring schedule on Thursday.

Association officials said they will have a better idea on the fate of both volleyball and cross country after their next meeting on July 15.

On Tuesday, Carlsbad Activities Director James Johns along with the rest of the athletic directors in the state met with NMAA Director Sally Marquez to discuss the fall season. Marquez informed the AD's there were three possibilities for the season.

The first option would be every sporting event starting as normal. Johns said he and the rest of the AD's all agreed that model wasn’t going to happen. The second option was to suspend the fall contact sports to the spring and work from there.

The final option was every fall sporting event be moved to the spring semester. Currently the NMAA is somewhere between the second and third models for reopening.

“I wasn’t surprised by the announcement,” Johns said. “I appreciate the NMAA communicating with us. I think we have to exercise due cautiousness right now. I think we have to approach it in a way that we don’t wipe this completely off the table. Let’s keep evaluating and see where we’re at down the road. We’ll know a lot more on (July) 15th.”

The two contact sports, football and soccer, are dealing with the possibility of either a shortened season in the spring or an outright cancellation should the pandemic get worse.

Misty Long, Cavegirls soccer

Carlsbad Cavegirls Soccer Coach Misty Long said she needed some time to process the announcement. Last year the Cavegirls made it to the Class 5A semifinals for the first time in school history before falling to eventual state champion Volcano Vista. With the majority of her team returning, the Cavegirls have a good chance at going even further in the playoffs if the season is played in the springtime.

“I hate it for the girls who won’t get a full season. It’s all about the girls,” Long said. “If we do get to have a season in February or March that would be awesome because these girls definitely deserve it.”

Long is trying to look on the positive side and that even a shortened season is more than the Cavegirls softball team got this season as they had yet to play a single game.

Assuming the NMAA doesn’t postpone all fall sports Long said she will encourage her players to try out for either volleyball to cross country.

“They need to keep active and maintain some type of normalcy,” Long said. “That’s important to do. I’m going to do what I can for them. If they can get out there and help other sports, great.”

Aaron Guevara, Cavemen soccer

Like Long, Carlsbad Cavemen soccer coach Aaron Guevara is trying to focus on the positives. The first-year head coach wants to emphasize the word “postpone” because that means there’s still a chance his players can play sometime during the school year.

“My number one priority is safety. I know that sports is such a huge (high school) experience for kids, especially for those seniors. I’m really hoping we will play in the spring.”

Guevara said he’s frustrated about the situation of the fall schedule falling through, but he agrees the NMAA made the right decision in postponing soccer until spring.

“I was having concerns about if we went back to playing sports in the fall,” he said. “What’s going to happen if say I or one of our players tests positive (for COVID-19) in the middle of the season? Are we just not going to play anymore? Are we out of the running? There are a lot of questions.”

When Carlsbad athletics is allowed to resume practices Guevara plans on returning to the pitch for the remainder of the summer simply to keep his players active.

“Those 10 days of practice (in June) gave the kids a sense of normalcy,” he said. “Just to have that connection again was great. I hope we get the chance.”

Guevara didn’t mind the pod workouts and felt his players got a lot out of the time. He added he enjoyed the small groups because it allowed him to focus on individual player skills.

Matthew Asher can be reached at 575-628-5524, masher@currentargus.com or @Caveman_Masher on Twitter.  Support award-winning local journalism. Subscribe to the Current-Argus today.