High School Fall Sports Season To Be ‘Challenging’

At our press time, Freedom High was expected to open its 2020 football season on Sept. 11, hosting its New Tampa neighbor and archrival Wharton High, but the toughest opponent for both teams to combat that night likely wasn’t each other.

It was Covid-19.

And, that doesn’t just go for football. Avoiding the virus is arguably the biggest challenge facing teams across Hillsborough County (and the country), as high school athletes, their coaches and administrators try their best to remain socially distant and safe in what is certain to be the strangest prep sports season ever.

“It’s going to be very…what’s the word I’m looking for? Intensive,” says Wharton athletic director Eddie Henderson “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

The county is following all CDC guidelines for sports and also has issued its own 18-page guide, which covers everything from daily cleaning and sanitizing to quarantining and tracing those who become infected. The rules, which include the difficult-to-enforce ban on handshakes and high fives, seek to prevent a major outbreak of the virus.

Social distancing will be the key to keeping crowds at athletic events from spreading the virus.

One of the rules that will make football feel very different is that the bands and cheerleaders will not be permitted to travel to away games. That means that when the Wharton Social Distancers traveled to take on the Freedom Social Distancers, they had to leave behind some of their loudest and most ardent supporters, not to mention a group that is woven into the very fabric of the Friday night football experience.

The crowds will be smaller. A limited number of fans will be allowed into sporting events like football and volleyball this fall — players (and band members) are allowed to choose only four spectators, but they have to be registered on a list at least a day before each game, so they can be issued electronic tickets. Each player’s foursome will be a “spectator pod” and will be required to sit together.

Fans, who must wear masks in the stands, will find seats clearly marked off in groups of four, socially distant from other pods.

The biggest hurdle, however, will be keeping the athletes healthy. If an athlete tests positive, he/she and anyone in close contact with them will be quarantined for 14 days. That can wipe out any team’s roster in a hurry.

Football will be a huge challenge, due to the unavoidable closer quarters presented by bus transportation and the sheer number of players (often ranging anywhere from 50 to 80 or so) cramming into small locker rooms.

The football teams at Hillsborough and Jefferson high schools have already had infected players and, as a result, may not be able to play the first two weeks of the season.

“I’m holding my breath, and the reason is that, when we’re putting this many people together, you just don’t know,” Henderson says.

While football is the biggest concern, every sport will present its own set of issues. 

For example, cross country will have to stagger its starts to avoid large gatherings of runners from multiple schools. Volleyball players will be expected to avoid the traditional high-five after every point, and swim meets with multiple teams may be hard to find. In fact, Wharton’s usual “home” pool at the New Tampa YMCA is not permitting the Wildcats to host any meets there.

Provided that high school sports can make it all work under such unique and demanding circumstances, middle school sports will not begin until the second quarter, with track starting first on Oct. 12, followed by flag football and volleyball on Oct. 19.

“Everything is so uncertain,” Henderson says. “Are we gonna be able to push through or will there be a setback? I hope we can push through — I want to see the kids play. They have suffered enough the last six months with (the 2019-20 school year) getting cut short, and the makeshift way of doing school. I hope we push through.”

New Tampa Students, Teachers Get Back To School

Following a summer of indecision and fear of the unknown, New Tampa’s schools finally opened their doors to students for in-person learning for the first time since they closed in March due to Covid-19.

“Woo hoo!,” shouted one parent, as she drove off smiling after dropping her two kids off at Benito Middle School.

Students spent the first week of the 2020-21 school year eLearning only, as the fight over whether or not to open brick-and-mortar classrooms for students and teachers raged on. 

The Hillsborough School Board initially leaned towards doing eLearning only for the first nine weeks, before settling for four weeks after consulting a panel of medical experts. However, that decision was then overturned by Superintendent Addison Davis, after Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran threatened to withhold millions of dollars in funding to schools that did not offer a brick-and-mortar option for parents.

Busy at work cleaning and prepping their classrooms for a socially-distant learning experience, teachers finally opened the doors to their students on August 31.

After the first week, Chiles principal Teresa Evans said things went “remarkably well.” At Chiles, roughly 450 students were home learning online, while 400 or so learned in classrooms. Evans said none of her teachers were forced back into the classrooms, and praised their efforts in the opening week.

“I think we planned and planned and planned and what we planned has worked out so far,” Evans said. “The kids aren’t struggling with masks the way people thought. They have been very compliant, and the parents have been incredibly compliant and helpful in following the new rules.”

Those new rules include keeping desks as far apart from each other as possible, eating lunches outside under the school’s covered courts keeping everything as clean and sanitized as possible.

“We were nervous, but never terribly worried,” Evans says. “We were very careful and will continue to be, and we are tweaking things as we go.”

While the Covid-19 numbers were slightly rising in Hillsborough County during the first week, schools hadn’t reported any large outbreaks.

According to the school district’s Covid-19 dashboard, the first four days produced only 21 positive cases among students, and another nine from school staff.

The district is not reporting if any classrooms have been quarantined.

From March through July, the district reported 284 confirmed cases of Covid-19. 

In New Tampa, the only schools to report any cases were Freedom High and Tampa Palms Elementary, with each reporting one student positive from the first day of school.

Three ‘Little Libraries’ Opening In Wiregrass Ranch

Several local families were on hand on July 31 when owner/developer JD Porter of Wiregrass Ranch (2nd from left) cut the ribbon at the first of three Little Free Library openings in his community.

Wesley Chapel may not have its own Pasco County Library System branch at the moment — as the renovation project at the New River Library on S.R. 54 continues — but it could soon have three Little Free Libraries.

The Wiregrass Ranch Foundation recently unveiled the first two Little Free Libraries, which are small, birdhouse-looking book depositories that allow anyone to share and read free books. 

Porter was on hand to cut the ribbon at Wiregrass Ranch’s first Little Free Library ribbon cutting on July 31. It is located between the Glory Days Grill and Max’s Natural Pet Market on S.R. 54. A second location is near the Culver’s on the north side of S.R. 56, while a location for a third book-sharing box is still being determined.

“JD (Porter, who founded the foundation) and I were chatting one that we wanted to do something where the community can get involved, but doesn’t have to be together, due to Covid-19,” says Amanda Blackmon, who does marketing for the foundation. “We were looking for something new and creative, and JD said, ‘What about a Little Library?’”

When it opened, the S.R. 54 location had a selection of books ranging from To Kill a Mockingbird to some of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and even Good Morning, Moon. Users are encouraged to share their own books when taking one from the library. 

“It is definitely about sharing books and bringing the community together,” Blackmon says, adding that the Wiregrass Ranch Foundation is encouraging those who are reading the Little Library books to share pictures and their thoughts on social media on Instagram at @littlefreelibrary_wc and on Facebook. “We wanted to get the conversation started,” she says.

Porter even suggested leaving notes in the books when you are done reading them, to be discovered by the next person who takes the book.

“It’s our hope that this Little Free Library will bring a little more joy, a little more connection and a whole lot more books to our community,” Porter said.

The locations in Wiregrass Ranch will be one of more than 100,000 book-sharing boxes world-wide. 

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization and received the 2020 World Literacy Award for its dedication to expanding access to books. 

For more information, visit LittleFreeLibrary.org. For more info about the Wiregrass Ranch Foundation, visit WiregrassRanchFoundation.org. — JCC

Autism Park Is A Go, Finally!

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has presented her annual budget proposal to the Tampa City Council — via a socially distant video conference, naturally — and the news was mostly good for New Tampa.

The Fiscal Year 2021 budget didn’t raise property taxes, or cut any essential services, and there were no layoffs.

But, the $1.254 billion plan included a big surprise: Money for the New Tampa Sensory & Autism Friendly Park, or Inclusive Park, which Tampa City Council member Luis Viera had all but given up on a few months ago, due to the city’s anticipated financial shortfall due to Covid-19.

“I knew due to the economy there would be a scaling back of priorities, and there has been,” says Viera, whose District 7 includes most of New Tampa. “But I was pleasantly surprised to see it in there.”

The budget, Tampa’s biggest ever, includes $1.7 million to build the Inclusive Park just behind the New Tampa Recreation Center (see story on pg. 6). While Tampa has made a number of improvements in recent years, with playground equipment that makes the parks more accessible to children with autism, including the NTRC’s Community Park, this full-fledged autism/sensory park will be the first of its kind in the city.

Roughly $90,000, from the 2018 budget, was used to design the park, originally planned for the area behind BJ’s Wholesale Club, also in Tampa Palms.

“It’s a huge win for New Tampa kids with disabilities, as well for the city of Tampa,” says Viera, who made the autism park one of his first goals when he was elected in 2016. “I’m thrilled they didn’t put the brakes on the project. Under Mayor Castor’s administration, you can see they are trying to take a positive stand in regards to persons with special needs. It’s great to see.”

Castor says the pandemic has cost the city $24 million in revenues. She also says she has no plans to cut from the police budget, which is roughly $175 Castor, Tampa’s Police Chief from 2009-15, said her plan was to invest, not divest, even in the wake of nationwide demands that police spending is reevaluated and reduced following the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests. Castor’s budget must be approved by the City Council by Oct. 1. — JCC

Climb To The Top No Easy Task For Freedom Valedictorian

Taravat Tarahom didn’t get to bask in the glory of being Freedom High School’s Class of 2020 valedictorian, thanks to the outbreak of Covid-19 cutting short her senior year. Nor did she get to give her speech in front of a throng of her classmates in an arena, instead settling for a safe and socially distant recorded message.

What Taravat says she did get out of being Freedom’s valedictorian, however, was a life-altering accomplishment at the end of what, at times, was an extremely difficult journey.

“This has taught me to look at one goal, but not make (that goal) my entire life,” the 18-year-old says. 

She was able to balance a huge school load, deal with the divorce of her parents and the death of her dog, as well as a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes, all while unexpectedly rising to the top of her class.

Taravat walked away from Freedom with a greater appreciation of her relationships and health and with the piece of mind that comes from learning how to stay prioritized.

“The experience definitely changed me,” says Taravat, who finished with a 7.64 weighted grade-point-average.

Leyla Mohebbi, her mother, says she couldn’t be more proud. She says academics have always been a priority in her home, where bringing home a B meant you would be asked, “Why not an A?”

“I feel like Tara put the expectation onto herself that she did not want to be anything less than a valedictorian,” Leyla says. “I’m very happy. I knew that was her dream, and she made it happen.”

Taravat has followed in the footsteps of her sister Targol, who was Freedom’s valedictorian in 2015 and is now in medical school at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale. Taravat says she felt the bar was “set impossibly high” before she even started high school. She faced a steady climb up the academic ladder, ranking only around No. 25 in her class after her sophomore year.

She remembers moving up in the class rankings after the first semester of her junior year, somewhere into the teens, and her determination to become the second valedictorian in the family was growing. 

She mentioned to some of her classmates and her teacher in AP Biology that she was going to go for it, and they laughed, because she still had more than a dozen students to pass. 

“That set something off in me,” Taravat admits.

A former cheerleader, she started her senior year ranked No. 7 in the class, but once her summer grades were input into the system — “I had a crazy workload that summer” — she had quietly risen to No. 3. But, she stayed under the radar, and continued to take a heavy load.

Taravat, who was co-president of the school’s Sierra Club, says a typical day in the fall of her senior year would entail waking up at 7 a.m. for six hours of school at Freedom, then coming home around lunchtime to eat and pack herself a dinner, and working for three hours as an online tutor, driving to the Hillsborough Community College (HCC) Ybor City campus for a three-hour English class and then heading over to the HCC campus on N. Dale Mabry Hwy. for physics lab. 

In February, she found out it was official — she had quietly risen to the top of her class. She called Leyla. They cried.

Even More Challenges

The hard work did not come without a cost, however.

In December, she had lost 15 pounds and spent two days in the hospital, where she was diagnosed with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. “I was so wrapped up in school I didn’t even pay attention to my health,” Taravat says. “I was kind of mad at myself for not noticing.”

Her diagnosis has triggered an interest in endocrinology, which she hopes to study at the University of Florida. She plans on majoring in microbiology and cell sciences.

And while her valedictorian speech wasn’t delivered to a crowd of her classmates, it did come from the heart. Without the trials and tribulations of her senior year, it might have been a completely different speech.

“Remember this,” she told the Class of 2020. “If you fall: get back up. It’s clichĂ©, I know, but get back up. Don’t allow setbacks to steer you off your natural path. Don’t let a single failure ruin those deep-rooted hopes and dreams. Because ultimately, rock bottom could be the solid foundation that you build the rest of your life on.”