How Fuel Shortages Are Affecting Athletics In New Jersey

Over the last 10 days, the importance of high school athletics has been put in perspective. At Lakeland, that means placing sports on the backburner for now.

With the Lakeland school district, which is comprised of Ringwood and Wanaque, struggling with gas shortages in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, and with the little fuel it does have being reserved for emergency vehicles and bussing students to and from school, all athletic events requiring travel have been postponed.

Some have tentative makeup dates scheduled. Others don’t. But at the moment, making sure students are in the classroom is taking precedent over sending athletes to state tournament games.

“We’re in a precarious position,” Lakeland athletic director John Yost said. “We are a regional school district and the vast majority of our students are transported on the bus. We are critically low on fuel right now and we’re conserving every drop of fuel we have so we can make sure, first and foremost, that we can educate our kids.”

That doesn’t make things any easier on the athletes.

Lakeland’s boys and girls soccer teams were scheduled to play a doubleheader at Pascack Hills in the opening round of the North 1, Group 2 tournament Tuesday. But both games were postponed because of transportation issues of getting two teams to Montvale, which is more than 50 miles roundtrip from Wanaque.

The girls volleyball team was scheduled to play in the state tournament Tuesday at Fort Lee. But that also got postponed.

The volleyball match is expected to be played Thursday, which is the last day it can be according to the newly revised NJSIAA schedule, and the soccer games must be played by Saturday. But with a nor’easter expected to hit North Jersey today, there was no set day or time for the soccer games, though they are expected to be scheduled for Friday or Saturday.

“We’re in a continuous state of limbo,” Lakeland boys soccer coach Don Peterfriend said. “We have to be prepared to play the game on a daily basis. But we don’t know for sure when it will be.”

Lakeland is exploring, “every option,” according to Yost, on how to get to those games and avoid forfeiting. One involved parents driving their kids, which creates another issue because athletes can be driven only by their parents or guardians and can’t carpool, according to district rules. Another was to have the home teams play at Lakeland, which isn’t fair to the higher seeds. Yost also has called a number of outside bus companies to see if they could transport the teams, which they can’t because of limited availability.

But one thing’s for sure: After waiting nine days and counting for these games to be rescheduled, the players are anxious to get back on the field.

“That’s all they [the players] have been talking about now for so many days,” Lakeland girls soccer coach Paul Wood said. “It’s a challenge to keep your head in it when you’ve had such a long time off. But we are trying to make the most of it.”

The same way Lakeland is trying to make the most of its fuel.