It wasn’t just another implausible plan for a season in the next calendar year.

It differed from the hypotheticals, non-answers and instructions to “wait and see” that he had been receiving.

This, for the first time in what seemed like forever, was something tangible.

On Monday, John Beardsley, the Fillmore girls soccer coach and league representative, sent an email to his Allegany County colleagues about scheduling, leading to a brief group discussion about the options in front of them. That’s when, for Bolivar-Richburg girls coach Mark Emery, the 2020 fall season moved from a difficult-to-imagine proposition to reality.

“I thought, ‘wow,’ he said. “‘You know what? I think this is going to happen.’”

Emery, who doubles as the Wolverines’ softball boss, was among the multitudes of players and coaches who had their spring seasons wiped out entirely by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He feared the possibility of having to deliver the same gut-wrenching news in the fall. He braced for the prospect of playing a condensed season in the spring. But now, he’ll hopefully have to do neither.

IN LATE August, the state announced that low- to moderate-risk sports, such as soccer, would be able to begin practicing and playing on Sept. 21. The NYSPHSAA furthered that momentum Friday by releasing a 49-page document outlining more clearcut return-to-play guidance.

That means, should the current circumstances hold, there will be soccer, albeit in a more truncated fashion, in Bolivar, Olean and the rest of the New York side of the Big 30 border come early October.

And for that, as Emery noted, these coaches are thankful.

Grateful.

Elated.

“Those are the types of words that come to mind when you’re thinking about it,” he said. “You just feel so happy for the kids. (Tonight) I said to my own kids, I just don’t know what it would be like to be a kid right now in high school. We all love sports so much and it’s such a big part of your life at that age.

“I don’t mean to minimize anything; of course, we’re there for an education first and foremost. But, gosh, didn’t we all learn great lessons on those courts and fields?”

JIM CHARLES shared in that sentiment. The Olean High boys coach feels particularly happy for his seniors, who, with continued luck, won’t have a second-straight scholastic campaign taken away or have to face the prospect of losing their final season.

“I’m glad we’re going to get the season in,” he said, “especially for the seniors, who have really put in a lot of time over the years, that their season isn’t delayed. This is something they’ve looked forward to and I’ve looked forward to for them to be able to get the season in.

“It’s going to be a little tricky weather-wise the later we go, but I’m just glad we’re going to get it in.”

Charles acknowledged he was “a little surprised” when the state greenlit lower-risk fall sports, including tennis, cross country and swimming. He, too, was of the mindset that Huskies would likely be playing in the spring.

The delayed start date makes sense, he said. “I think (it’s) probably to get a feel for how school openings were going to go, because that’s really everybody’s focus right now.”

Still, even if a few weeks later, there’s a fall soccer season for which to prepare, and Olean, the long-time Huskies coach stated, is “all in.”

AT THIS point, though the specifics are still being worked out, both Emery and Charles are expecting to play a shortened, league-only schedule.

Olean will be part of an expanded (and more difficult) CCAA West, which dropped Chautauqua Lake, but added both Allegany-Limestone and Jamestown, making for seven teams and giving the Huskies a 12-game home-and-home slate. B-R would “probably” get 10 games — home and away with its four Allegany County Division I foes and two against independent Wellsville.

“But given the nature of things, it would be exciting to even get 10 games,” Emery said.

Players will have to participate in 10 practices before beginning competition, up from six last year, but count Charles among those in favor of that recent modification, “because I was really worried about injuries; guys sitting around possibly for the last five months, then all of a sudden hitting the field and having to play hard.

“I was concerned about that, so I’m glad we’re doing the 10,” he said.

Though regionals and states have already been canceled, teams (as it stands currently) will at least have the opportunity to play for a sectional title. Then, too, Charles has been in touch with A-L coach Jon Luce about potentially staging a tournament for local teams as a way to play more games.

“But we’ll see how that shakes out as far as if the superintendents and athletic directors allow that to happen,” he said.

Given what transpired in the spring — and what football and volleyball teams continue to go through as high-risk sports — area soccer teams are thrilled to have any semblance of a season at all. Mostly, they’re looking forward to finally filling a void that’s existed since March.

“We’re missing our community,” Emery noted. “The sport realm is our community. I assume (kids still do it), you grab the newspaper, the first thing you look at is the sports page. How your local teams did, who’s doing what; you read about your peers and your friends from other schools, and it just makes it sort of a happy community.

“We’ve missed that too, haven’t we?”

(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)