By Phil Foley
It looks very doubtfull that we will have a High School Basketball and Football season this Winter and Spring in Yonkers this year! This is a tragedy for all high school seniors who are trying to get scholarships to attend college! Yes folks the virus strikes again!
Last week I texted Yonkers Athletic Director Jim Rose and asked him what was going on with Yonkers HS sports in general. In a text back to me he said “ There will be no high risk sports played at this time” .Meaning basketball and football. Mr Rose did say “At this point we are running low moderate risk sports thus we have bowling, boys swim and track.”. I asked him again in another text about the status of basketball and football and he replied “At this point neither sport will be played”.
I also texted the Yonkers Force football coach Dan Dematteo. I asked Dan what he thought about the situation with football being played this year and he simply said “Starting to get very concerned!”
This year the high school sport seasons were going to be broken up as follows: Winter sports January-February, Fall sports March-April and Spring Sports May-June.
Maybe with the grace of God we will get the vaccine administered and things will be normal by next Fall. Unfortunately too late for some of our athletes this year!,” writes Foley.
According to YPS spokesperson Jeri Feirstein, the guidelines for high school contact sports are set by the State and “if the Governor were to change policy, we are prepared to look into it.”
Another major cancellation came from the Yonkers Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee in a letter dated January 11. “Dear Parade Committee Members and Friends of the Parade,
“As we indicated in our October 27th letter, the Board would meet in early January to finalize a decision on how to proceed in 2021 with our annual celebration of St Patrick’s Day here in Yonkers.
“Obviously, we would love to hold our great annual Parade down McLean Avenue on March 20, 2021 as originally planned, but given the continuance of the pandemic at its current and projected levels, it would not be prudent to do so. Thus, sadly we must cancel the parade for yet another year.
“As we said in our last letter, the 2020 parade was so well laid out and ready to go at the point it was cancelled, it remains our intention to utilize those plans as the basis for our next parade, now scheduled for Saturday, March 19, 2022. We have spoken to Grand Marshal Pat McCrudden and each of her Aides and they remain enthusiastically ready to lead us next year. We all recognize how disappointing this is and we look forward to the day when we can all safely come together in celebration once again.
Please stay safe and be well, Ursula McIntyre & Deirdre O’ Mara, Co-Chairs Yonkers St Patrick’s Parade on McLean Avenue
