In the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, the entire sports world at every level has been put on hold. Leagues like Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League have all had to postpone games, while the NCAA canceled the March Madness college basketball tournament and spring sports across the nation.

Locally, the biggest impact has been on high school sports. While teams like the Dunkirk Marauders girls basketball and girls bowling teams had their state championship tournaments canceled, spring sports have all been halted as school has moved to online instruction in recent weeks.

But what if school resumes?

It may be too late to resume everything in the sports world as things usually would run. There just isn’t enough time left in the school year to have a full season. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an option.

First off, obviously, safety needs to be the biggest concern. If school does not resume in person, neither should sports — nor will they. In addition, schools need to be in session for sports to take place because of concerns like venue and transportation. In the state of Arizona — where I spent half my life, played high school sports and began my career as a sports journalist — Gov. Doug Ducey announced on Monday that high school would remain online through the rest of the school year. In response, the high school sports governing board announced all spring sports seasons were officially canceled. If New York state does not resume school in person, high school sports will face the same fate.

Should high schools return to in person instruction, a shortened season for sports like baseball and softball is still possible. What I propose is to shorten the season by cancelling the state tournament. By making that decision, though clearly disappointing, it would ensure the most time possible could be allocated toward a regular season, and possibly a Section VI tournament.

For example, say that school is back to normal for the first week of May. That would leave the entire month of May and possibly the first week or so of June for competition. After so much time off and little to no practices before the hiatus, there would need to be time to ramp up to competition. If you allow the first week of May for team practices, then begin the regular season in the second week of May, that leaves three weeks left in the month and another week or two in June.

For baseball and softball, regular season league and nonleague games could be played three times a week, such as Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. If that takes place over three weeks, teams could play as many as 12 games through the month of May. That would leave early June for a possible sectional playoff bracket.

The same proposal can also be applied to other spring sports, like track and field, golf and tennis. Holding regular-season matches and meets, then a sectional competition while cutting out the state championships, athletes still can compete for a league title in the regular season and a sectional championship in the postseason.

The major issues with holding a state tournament are travel and time. Teams need to schedule transportation and lodging, while the state committee needs to set up a venue. Even before the state Final Four, the same can be said for Far West Regional games. These factors are why the postseason is spread out across multiple weeks. With so much time already lost from the spring sports season, if the time after a sectional championship tournament is taken away rather than time off the start of the regular season, athletes have more time to actually compete.

Of course it’s not a perfect solution to cut the state tournament, but everyone has to adapt to the circumstances in which we find ourselves. At least in this proposal, athletes still have the chance to do what they love as much as possible.

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Braden Carmen is the sports editor for the Dunkirk OBSERVER. Comments can be sent to bcarmen@observertoday.com or on Twitter @bradencarmen.