Mixed feelings about Fall sports
Imperial coach predicting late start to prep sports season.
Jill Lerno has experienced more than most in her Imperial Valley coaching career.
As Imperial Valley College's head softball coach for 20 years, she was the catalyst in keeping the Lady Arabs program alive and keeping the sport relevant; as far as the collegiate ranks are concerned in the area.
She's also the current head volleyball coach at Imperial High School, who is looking to bring more success to the Tiger's program after the departure of Chelsey Strahm to Holtville a couple of year's back.
But now, she's dealing with the challenge of running her program amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic.
She devotes time on a daily basis to giving her current student athletes training exercises and words of encouragement through social media; since social distancing mandates haven't let up in the last 3 months.
As the Summer is now half over, Lerno isn't optimistic about prep sports returning this Fall; at least on time.
"If they're not in school one day, there's no way we can get on the court or the football field or, you know, the softball field or whatever. The best case scenario, I'm thinking October. The worst case scenario is January."
A known competitor, Lerno's concerns over her program range from lack of chemistry (due to social distancing) and the Tiger program potentially eliminating the freshman and JV squads; but on a larger scale, the potential of the overall quality of prep sports taking a decline because of the pandemic,
At the same time, the legendary coach also sees a silver lining.
"I think volleyball, I think all sports are going to suffer. I really do. But, I think once you get back, the kids are going to be so happy to get back. Maybe playing-wise, it might be suffering because it's hard. You just can't go into a sport two weeks and then go and play on the court. You know, so I do think that's going to be hard. But, comradery and all of that, I think everybody is going to be happy to get back."
Lerno's Tiger squad will have 7 returning seniors in the lineup.
The CIF-San Diego Section Commissioner is expected to announce the state of Fall sports for the San Diego and Imperial Valley on July 20th.
