<p>With the sports world having come to a skidding halt over the past two to three weeks, a lot of people suddenly have a lot more spare time on their hands.</p><p>Athletes don’t have practices, games or meets. Coaches don’t have teams to coach.</p><p>And what about athletic directors? What are they to do when there are no more athletics to direct?</p><p>Spring is normally the craziest season on the sporting calendar, with countless rainouts to work around and reschedule. But this year has brought a different kind of crazy, with the COVID-19 outbreak wiping out most — and eventually, likely all — of the 2020 baseball, softball, track, tennis and golf seasons.</p><p>With none of those events to attend, there’s obviously going to be some more idle time for ADs to fill. Perhaps a little too much — when Center Grove’s Jon Zwitt was asked how he’s filling it, he responded with a photo of a 600-piece jigsaw puzzle.</p><p>There is, however, still at least some work to do, because at some point sports will return, and plans need to be in place for whenever that might be.</p><p>With the governor’s announcement last week that schools will remain closed until at least May 1, the likelihood of there being any competition in the spring has grown smaller and smaller. But however slim the chances, they need to be accounted for.</p><p>"I’m going to plan on getting stuff ready outside for concession stands for softball and baseball and track," Edinburgh AD David Walden said last week, "and I went and bought some more tennis balls yesterday for the tennis team. So yeah, I’m just planning on we’re going to get back, whether we get back or not."</p><p>Even if the spring season doesn’t materialize, there are future plans to solidify. Most of the county ADs have been working ahead on contracts for the fall and winter seasons, firming up those schedules so that everything will be set up if and when play has resumed by then.</p><p>But a lot of that work has been getting done remotely with most school buildings completely shut down.</p><p>"They’re not even letting us in the building, so I can’t even go in my office," Whiteland AD Ken Sears said. "Since I’m retiring, I’d start cleaning out some closets and things like that, but I can’t even do that right now."</p><p>Sears had been doing some work around the school grounds before shutdown, including tidying up the warning track on the varsity baseball field. But with no events to work in the evenings for the foreseeable future, he’s had more time for more leisurely pursuits, such as regular rounds of golf with his Franklin counterpart, Bill Doty.</p><p>When asked if he’d dipped into his puzzle stash yet, Sears says he’s holding off.</p><p>"I’m saving those for when they restrict us to our house," he quipped.</p><p>While they have managed to make the most of their down time of late, the county’s ADs all love what they do — and they, like everyone else in the sports world, are missing the day-to-day action that comes with their job. </p><p>"I’m going to be missing those games," Doty said. "I love, obviously, what I do, and to see our kids compete — but I wanted to get outside. I wanted to get outside and enjoy that fresh air and watching our track, softball, baseball, tennis and all those sports, I love to watch those outdoor sports."</p><p>"It’ll be surreal that we don’t have any athletic events in the spring," Walden agreed, "but I’ll try to stay busy.</p><p>"I will save a lot on gas."</p><p>Sears, who is retiring this summer, noted that it would be nice if the athletes in the current senior class end up getting a chance to at least play an abbreviated season before they graduate, but he understands that such concerns don’t rate as highly in the grand scheme of things right now.</p><p>Even with no sports on tap, though, he’s still on the job, looking out for the best interests of his student-athletes during this strange quiet period.</p><p>"We’re trying to remind coaches to remind their athletes to stay out of trouble," he said, "because when young kids get bored, they do dumb things."</p><p>As for how long the delay might last, Doty has seen too many changes over the past few days to even hazard a guess.</p><p>"There’s really no point in even speculating," he said.</p><p>Zwitt and his peers around the county may have to run through a few more jigsaw puzzles before it’s over.</p>
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