First, when I thought we were going to start (the season in) late November, I was very excited. We were just coming off playing in the summer league (Jenkins Park in Norwich, no masks for players). We played in a back-to-school weekend tournament in New Britain at the end of August (without any incidents and players wore no masks) and then a very successful two-month fall league at the New Britain Boys & Girls Club (again without incident and no players wore masks). So I was very anxious to get going.

But then the CIAC pushed the start back to December and schools started going remote and they wanted kids to play in masks and a whole lot of other precautionary measures were being put in place; I kind of got the feeling this was not going to happen when we originally thought. That took the air out of the balloon for me.

I'm sort of a creature of habit and like things done a certain way. My thought process was this: for the first time in my 20-plus years of being involved in high school basketball, it's not going to be just about coaching and teaching the kids the game of basketball and showing them how to become good human beings, on and off the floor. Coaches will be responsible for a whole lot of other things outside of basketball and that cannot be fun for anyone involved.

High school sports should be fun for kids and coaches but in today's world, unfortunately, things have changed drastically. I don't want to put my kids, my coaches or myself in a situation where we have to quarantine. Unfortunately, I don't work at the school, so if I have to quarantine, it's a whole other issue with my job.

Hopefully they can get a better handle on things before we do play and it will be a lot safer for all those involved.

I do not have a problem being honest with my guys. They trust me and I trust them. Any questions I cannot answer, I just direct them to our athletic director and he can answer those questions I cannot. 

It was at first (not to be practicing and playing this time of year), but I've come to grips with it now. I try to live life as normally as I can, but at the same time not be around a lot of people. With COVID going on, it's safer not being in the gym and around a lot of people. I do watch a lot of college and now NBA games to get my fix.

A few thoughts in my head about the possible start: 

The CIAC proposed a 12-game season with a potential start date being Jan. 19, with the first play date being around Feb. 1 and the state tournament to start March 8.

How do we get the kids conditioned properly in 10 days when they haven't been able to get into a gym (governor's restrictions) or outside for months? That's on top of wanting them to play with a mask on, which would require them to condition so they can get used to breathing in a mask. 

How do we play 12 games in a month's time, playing twice a week?

Will there be a conference tournament? 

What's the requirement to make the state tournament? How many games do you have to win to get in and how are the schools being placed in the divisions? 

Most districts are doing remote learning. Are they going to be allowed to participate? In the fall they were not if they had to go remote because of an outbreak. 

Will the state tournament be regionalized or how will it be done in order to do the proper contact tracing? 

There are a lot of thoughts going through my head about this whole thing and a lot of unanswered questions. 

I just hope if we get to play in 2021, we can do it safely and it's a success, both on and off the court. At the end of the day, whatever they deem is the best and safest way for us to get back on the court and back to doing what we love to do, we will do whatever it is with no questions asked.