Photo by Erin Nelson.
The administration at Vestavia Hills High School lit up all of the stadium lights in honor of the school’s annual RISE Day, the Rebels Impact through Service and Engagement (RISE) campaign fundraiser for the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB Hospital, on April 16. Support for RISE Day trickled down to honor all of the 2020 senior athletes that were unable to finish their seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The days aren’t as long for Jeff Segars as they normally are in the spring.
While that may seem like a good thing, the Vestavia Hills High School athletic director would gladly take those long days over the alternative and current reality.
From February through May, Segars typically finds himself running from the baseball field to the softball field to see the Rebels compete. He also spends many afternoons at Thompson Reynolds Stadium watching the soccer team play or the football and track and field teams practice.
But this spring, all of those things — along with the other sports and extracurricular activities — were halted in mid-March, not to return before the school year’s conclusion.The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through the country stopped everything in its tracks and relegated educational instruction to a virtual environment.
“The hardest thing is not seeing our kids and our coaches,” Segars said. “You get in this thing to see kids.”
Originally, schools across the state were mandated to be closed for two weeks through April 5. But on March 26, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and state Superintendent Eric Mackey announced that schools would remain closed the remainder of the spring, including the cancellation of all spring sports.
“It was tough,” Segars said of that day. “I kept hoping that we would be back in school on the 6th.”
Segars has remained in communication with all of the coaches who saw their teams’ seasons ends without a sense of closure.
“They hurt for those kids. The commitment and the time that the kids and students and coaches put into a three-month season is just astronomical,” Segars said.
The end was particularly shocking for the high school seniors that will not have the opportunity to compete for Vestavia Hills again. Segars’ son, Bryant, completed his senior wrestling season in February by finishing as the runner-up in the 126-pound division.
“That gives me a whole different perspective,” Segars said. “Everybody’s hurting. I could not imagine Bryant not being able to finish his wrestling season.”
As much as everyone wishes the situation was different, it has provided a real-life example of the life lessons that sports teach athletes.
“You go out and work, and you do your best, and sometimes your best isn’t good enough,” Segars said. “Sometimes life throws you curveballs, but I can get up the next day and go back to work.”
And as tough as it may be, many of the coaches at the school have begun working on plans for next school year.
“It’s unbelievably difficult,” Segars said. “Right now, those kids deserve us getting ready to compete next year and give them a chance to compete and learn the lessons of sports. That’s what we have to do. It’s just like virtual learning. We easily could’ve said we’re done [for the school year] but that’s not best for the kids.”
Nobody knows when society will return to a sense of normalcy, but Segars praised the administration of the high school and Vestavia Hills City Schools as a whole for the efforts put forth in transitioning to virtual learning.
“The communication and the leadership from our Board of Education has been second to none,” Segars said.
Segars said that, despite the circumstances, he has enjoyed spending time with his family and seeing other families be able to connect and enjoy life in the same manner.
“If you’re looking for a positive,that’s the biggest positive for me,”he said.
