The mandated school shutdown until April 6 is hard on everyone with ACT tests delayed, not seeing all your friends, and not participating in any extracurricular activities, including all spring sporting events.

“I think for the school, obviously it takes a hit for our class, pride, and tradition,” Forrest Principal Angie Phifer said. “For not only our athletes, but for any of our extracurricular activities is kind of sad for the kids and disappointing, but hopefully this won’t last long and we can get back to it as quick as possible.”

For all the seniors in county it is especially hard as they may be robbed of their last prom, senior trip, end of school awards, the last shot to win over that the girl you always liked, and an even longer shot at any chance of winning a district or region title and a chance to capture a state championship on the playing fields.

“I think for them, just keep your heads up and know that you have been a big integral part of things here at Forrest and you’ll always have a place in the hearts of everybody here at Forrest and you will always be a Rocket,” Phifer said.

On Tuesday night, the Marshall County Board of Education met in a specially called meeting and the results left a small glimmer of hope as they kept the current policy of sporting events being played at the principle’s discretion until the board meets again on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for further discussion on the issue.

“We have a board meeting tonight (Tuesday) and hopefully we will get some more leeway in those aspects of when we are out, what we can do and what we can’t do, so we will follow what is handed down and go from there and hopefully this won’t last long,” Phifer said.

Marshall County teams can hold non-mandatory practices in the interim, but even if they did want to play, all of the surrounding counties within the sports’ districts school systems are closed.

Williamson County is closed until March 22, Giles County March 27, Bedford, Maury, and Franklin counties until April 1, and Rutherford and Lincoln County until April 3.

“Our coaches are talking to other coaches, but as of right now no games have been scheduled,” Phifer said. “Like we talked about, who will they play, most counties have suspended sports, so if we play we will have a hard time finding teams to play.”

Marshall County High School and Cornersville also do not have any games scheduled until after the meeting Thursday night.

Also, the weather has not cooperated this week, making the decisions much easier and there has been a limited amount of discussion about just playing intra-county games.

“We have discussed this a little depending on weather and how things develop,” Phifer said.

Normally, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) has no mandate over member schools regarding regular season games as they historically have only been in control of the postseason tournaments they host.

In the meantime, students and athletes are strongly encouraged to keep the studies going during the downtime and keeping the mind and body in shape in case the virus passes and sports can begin again.

“I think academically wise, keep practicing and keep working on some of your skills and keep those up so we can be ready to hit the books hard when we come back,” Phifer said. “As far as extracurricular wise, there again practice whether it be practicing your instruments for the band, practicing your lines for a play, and practicing for sports so when it’s time, we can hit the ground running again.”

Forrest softball coach Shelby Stinnett and the Class 2A defending state champion Lady Rockets are in a unique situation as they just embarked on a season that could have made history for the program as they have never won back-to-back state titles.

The three-time state champions were off to a solid 2-1 start and remained loaded to make another run.

“We didn’t really get to play any preseason this year because I coach middle school and high school, but we went down to Summertown this weekend and fell short to Summertown in the first game, but you’re talking about single A runner-ups and then we play Lexington and got them, coming back pretty strong and beat the runner-ups (2A), and then we beat Mars Hill, Alabama state champs,” Stinnett said. “So just going in to the season, knowing you have the caliber of team to make and do something our program has never done and that is to repeat, so that’s hard,”

“Their feelings are hurt, they are sad about it, so we are just going to stay positive right now and hope we get our chance.”

Stinnett also talked about the effect it will have on her seniors Ally and Anna Blanton, Kaitlin Leverette, Caroline Warner, Kaydee Todd, Riley Ward, and Zoe Long, all of whom have put their blood, sweat, tears, and souls in to becoming the first softball team to win two in row.

“These kids told us our goal at the end of the year was to do something no other team has ever done and their goal this time was to embrace the target being the defending state champs last year and they have put in the work to do it,” Stinnett said. “A lot of them play high class travel ball and some of them want to go to college and play ball, so for them this is a little upsetting.”

“Hopefully this will kind of put it in reality of how much they miss it in case we do come back and play.”

But, then again, nobody else can win it either.

And they certainly will not become lackadaisical during the current shutdown as Stinnett is sending some homework to make sure.

“Our conversation with the team was, in case we don’t see you I will be sending at-home workouts because I’m speculating that I won’t be able to do anything with a big group or as a team,” Stinnett said. “My expectation is still the same, get out in the yard and work, take reps with your parents and work, there is no slack, and pitchers will be receiving messages on your workouts you can do with your parents.”

“Everybody is in the same boat too, so hopefully I have the caliber of team that we should be good to go after a few weeks off.”

There have also been some early discussions regarding the postseason if the games are started up again after the virus passes and schools reopen, including just playing district games when they get back or maybe even a blind draw for the district tournament bracket.

“We already have a meeting date set up with everyone in our district on the 31st,” Stinnett said. “We are supposed to meet and talk about if we play what we are going to do, I don’t know what that is but we are going to meet and talk about.”

Hopefully these latest measures to control the curve of the coronavirus will work and we can all get back outside soon to enjoy some tennis, soccer, baseball, and softball.

“The kids in one sense are excited because they are out of school, but after they sit down and think about it for a minute, there was some sad faces as they were leaving today, they said this is kind of weird, it isn’t like leaving for spring break or getting out for a snow day,” Phifer said. “I reminded them that this is a little bit different and yeah we are not going to be seeing everybody for a little bit, so they went through a range of emotions today within the building of excitement before realization set in and they began to think about it a little bit deeper.”

Marshall County is true sports community and the teams will be ready if the whistle blows again this season.