Getting an Earley start

New Hall High School head coach Darcy Earley wasted no time getting the Lady Devils volleyball team’s summer activities up and running.

With the IHSA giving sports teams across the state the green light to move to the next stage of participation, the Lady Devils were up and at ’em with an early morning practice Monday.

“It went well. Had a little rust on all of us,” said Earley, a longtime assistant who succeeds Demi Salazar as head coach this year.

Hall will be hosting a varsity volleyball league that starts up Tuesday at 5 p.m. and will also be held on Thursdays. Participating schools will include Putnam County, St. Bede, LaMoille-Ohio, Serena, Seneca and Henry.

No spectators will be allowed for this league.

The Hall varsity volleyball team will also practice Wednesday morning with weight lifting to follow. The JV will practice from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Lady Devils basketball team practiced Tuesday morning and will again Thursday morning.

The Red Devils football team will continue its conditioning this week with an eye toward camp/contact days next week, new head coach Nick Guerrini said.

Boys basketball coach Mike Filippini plans to start up next week with open gyms a couple days a week.

Bureau Valley

Bureau Valley will ease into the next stage, remaining in the Stage 1 Return to Play for the week of July 6-10, its fourth week of training and conditioning.

New athletic director Brad Bickett said BV is waiting for its COVID-19 Phase 4 plan to be approved by the Bureau, Putnam, Marshall County Health Department and its school board.

“We’re not going to rush anything,” Bickett said. “We’re being patient. It’s the approach we’ve taken throughout all this.”

Bickett said the Storm are hopeful to take the next step starting the week of July 13-17.

Princeton High School

Conditioning just got underway Monday for girls athletics at PHS. The Tigresses volleyball program has scheduled conditioning sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, and just learned its schedule for open gyms has been approved by the school.

The first open gym is set for Wednesday with the F/S meeting from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and the varsity from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Each participant must be prepared for a temperature check and questionnaire. They must bring a mask and their own water bottle and towel.

Football coach Ryan Pearson said the Tigers will continue with workouts this week and start up with mini-camps next week.

Any current or incoming PHS student interested in cross country is invited to meet Monday, Tuesday and Friday evenings in July at 7 p.m. at Zearing Park. Temperatures will be taken upon arrival. Each runner must supply their own water.

Boys basketball coach Jason Smith anticipated holding an open gym soon. PHS girls basketball will start up open gyms.

St. Bede Academy

The Lady Bruins basketball team held its first open gym Monday night with another planned for Wednesday. Coach Tom McGunnigal described it “Back to the Gym” on the Lady Bruins Twitter page.

The St. Bede boys basketball team will hold an open gym at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Players are asked to bring plenty of water as water fountains will not be available. The future schedule will be discussed.

Bruins football coach said he will wait until July 20 and allow their athletes to focus on basketball and baseball before turning to football.

St. Bede baseball coach Bill Booker is hoping to schedule some games the last two weeks of July. He said his kids deserve to get to play having put in a lot of hard work this spring only to have the curtain pulled on their season.