The start date for a handful of sports is slated for mid-September, with football, soccer, field hockey and girls volleyball on hold and facing a possible delay to a second session straddling winter and spring.

Gennaro Ferraro wasn’t excited about the Rhode Island Interscholastic League announcement of its plan for fall sports. He wasn’t angry or frustrated either. It was more indifference.

“I’m finally coming to terms it’s something none of us can control at any point or any level,” the Burrillville High School football coach said. “I’m hopeful we’ll still be able to get a season in of some sort. I am a teacher, so there’s just so much unknown out there, and there are some things that are bigger than football that we have to worry about.

“I’m trying to do a better job of understanding the bigger perspective.”

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In a press conference Wednesday, RIIL executive director Mike Lunney presented the league’s “Safe Return of Education-Based Athletics” plan. It gives a framework for what the RIIL would do, all contingent on Gov. Gina Raimondo’s finalization of school reopening plans on Aug. 17.

As part of the plan, fall sports was pushed to a Sept. 14 start date, with games no earlier than Oct. 2. The catch is, currently, only girls tennis, cross country and game-day cheerleading are allowed under Raimondo’s Phase 3 guidelines.

That means football, soccer, field hockey and girls volleyball are off, for now, but the RIIL has set aside a second season for fall sports that would take place between the winter and spring seasons.

Ideal? No. Practical? Not especially.

But none of the protocols surrounding sports in the COVID-19 era has been.

“Ideally, I would rather play a shorter season at the end of September and October than play in March,” South Kingstown girls soccer head coach Scott Rollins said. “But at this point, having seen what happened to seniors last spring, I just want to play.”

“Just because the league says a season is going to be here, if the governor says on the 17th I’m going to move soccer and volleyball into Phase 4 and they can play, great,” said Alex Butler, head girls volleyball coach at East Providence. “But what happens if we go back to school the second week of September and there’s a shutdown? We’re still at the mercy of the virus, and it’s tough to plan for what’s going to happen.”

Wednesday’s news came with a mishmash of emotions, but it finally gave those involved in high school athletics some sort of direction. For some, it was good; for others, they remain positive.

“My kids have been going full bore with the expectation that they were almost certainly going to play,” East Greenwich girls tennis coach Marc Brocato said. “Kids generally take the most positive outlook on those things anyway.”

“I’m going to remain hopeful,” said Josh Paiva, a rising senior for the Toll Gate boys soccer team. “I’m going to keep practicing until we get the official go or no.”

But for others — mainly on the football side — Wednesday’s plan wasn’t ideal.

Kris McCall, the head football coach for Classical High School, has one of the state’s most diverse programs. His players come from all over Providence, a melting pot of races and economic backgrounds. Coaching is a full-time job with part-time pay for him, and he’s passionate about what the sport means to him.

He’s not a fan of the league’s current plan, but he understands the league’s direction has more to do with the state than the RIIL. McCall views the state’s stance on football — among the “high-risk” fall sports — as hypocritical.

“The whole thing doesn’t make any sense. At one point Raimondo was talking about how people needed the beaches,” McCall said. “She’s trying to justify why the beaches are OK, and she says it’s because people needed the beaches because it’s an outlet. So sports aren’t an outlet for these kids?”

“That’s extremely frustrating. You see the pictures people are posting at the beach, and I can’t get together with 30 kids?” said Blake Simpson, the head football coach at Pilgrim. “There are CDC guidelines for us to follow to see our players, and, obviously, a lot of coaches are following it, which is great.”

Woonsocket head football coach Charlie Bibeault — who’s an EMT — didn’t agree with that comparison, but he’s still in the “let them play” camp.

“Beaches are a different thing, but you’re not tackling that guy at the beach, sweating on him, breathing on him and spitting on him,” he said. “But it’s frustrating because we want to play. Every coach here, we do this for a reason, and we’ll take the proper precautions to be safe.”

Alex Mega has been playing a lot this summer. The East Greenwich All-State field hockey star has played in games out of state as part of her club team. As a rising sophomore for the Avengers, she’s been on the field at EG with summer workouts.

Mega was optimistic about the RIIL’s current plan. She said she’ll play whenever, and she isn’t alone in thinking that the precautions she and her teammates are taking are making things safe.

“I’m not concerned at all. I’m not very scared, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” she said. “I think we’re pretty cautious.”

“When I’m playing football, I don’t think about anything else,” said Glenn Sharpe, a rising senior for the Tolman football team. “When I leave my house, I have a mask on and I tell my teammates to do the same thing.”

“It’s just a bad look for any of us if just one person isn’t following the rules,” said Brady Spitzer, a rising sophomore on the North Kingstown football team. “It’s not just going to screw it up for any one of us. It’ll screw it up for the whole state.”

— erueb@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @EricRueb