Tag: COVID

by Mike Pavlichko

Coaching one basketball team at a time is enough for most people, but not Woodbridge’s (and now Drew’s) Timinski

Bobby Timinski – 7th-all-time leading scorer at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, thousand-point scorer at both St. Joe’s of Metuchen and Colonia High Schools – has three jobs.

He owns a furniture and mattress business. He coaches the Woodbridge girls’ basketball team. He runs Basketball Warehouse in Edison, which provides individualized training for 8-year-olds all the way up to college.

Woodbridge campe up with a 60-42 win over New Brunswick at home on Saturday, Feb. 13 for its first win of the season.

Now, he’s the volunteer head coach at Drew University in Madison, and this weekend, he will lead the Rangers in a home-and-home doubleheader with Juniata – Friday night at home at 7 pm, followed by a trip to PA for a 4:00 Sunday matinee.

SPONSORED CONTENT: Timinski’s Basketball Warehouse helps players of all ages improve their skills and confidence in a personal setting

How, did it happen? Well, just as with anything extraordinary these days, it’s all due to COVID, as the Drew coaching staff all had to go into COVID protocols.

The full story would be incredulous, if we told you. So let’s let Bobby Timinski himself tell the story.

Click below to listen to Woodbridge – now Drew – head coach Bobby Timinski talk about his newest role:

by Mike Pavlichko

Edison boys’ on two-week COVID shutdown, but had planned to opt-out of GMC “pods” anyway

The Edison boys’ basketball team has halted all team activities and is on a COVID-related pause through the end of the month, according to school officials.

Those officials would not comment further to protect the privacy of their student-athletes.

Edison also won’t be participating in the Greater Middlesex Conference postseason, but Athletic Director David Sandaal says they wouldn’t have anyway.

Sandaal says Edison wanted a guarantee it would play JP Stevens in the postseason, which – in the GMC this year, due to COVID – is made up of four-team pods, with each team guaranteed to play two games. He says GMC officials couldn’t make that guarantee, and Edison instead decided not to participate.

Sandaal says Edison will return from its COVID break on March 1 with a game against Woodbridge, then play cross-town rival Stevens on March 3.

Meanwhile, JFK is not on a pause at the time of this writing, said Athletic Director Warren Rotella, who was reached by phone Tuesday afternoon.

by Mike Pavlichko

NJSIAA loosens schedule restrictions to allow basketball makeups following double-whammy of COVID, Mother Nature

by Mike Pavlichko

We’re just one week into high school basketball season, and things aren’t looking good for a number of area programs.

But it has nothing to do with making foul shots or turning the ball over too much.

It’s about COVID-19, and even Mother Nature, and now the NJSIAA is lending a hand.

The state’s high school athletics association says it will allow teams to schedule two four-game weeks this season, starting next week, NJSIAA Assistant Director Al Stumpf told Central Jersey Sports Radio Wednesday morning.

The loosening of scheduling restrictions is an effort to allow more makeup games in a tight season already shortened by COVID-19.

Continue reading “NJSIAA loosens schedule restrictions to allow basketball makeups following double-whammy of COVID, Mother Nature” →
by Mike Pavlichko

COVID in Monroe program leads to cancellation of opener at St. Joe’s

by Mike Pavlichko

The Greater Middlesex Conference has its first COVID-related cancellation of the 2021 high school basketball season, and the season hasn’t even tipped off yet.

Monroe’s game at St. Joseph of Metuchen next Tuesday – opening day for high school basketball in New Jersey – has been cancelled due to COVID in the Monroe program, its Athletic Department confirmed Thursday afternoon to Central Jersey Sports Radio.

It’s the first known cancellation in the GMC due to actual COVID cases. However, a number of games were scrapped after Carteret and Perth Amboy opted not to play basketball and most other winter sports this year. And some districts, like Middlesex and Old Bridge, have decided to begin play the first week of February, rather than the NJSIAA first date of competition, which is Tuesday, January 26th.

READ MORE: “Like a kid in a candy store,” HS coaches and players welcome the start of practice

There was no immediate word on whether the game would be rescheduled, nor on a replacement game for St. Joe’s, which otherwise would open on Thursday night against Roselle Catholic at 5:30 pm at Maglio Gymnasium.

The “Battle of the Falcons” was to be the debut of high school basketball play-by-play on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Instead, we’ll have live coverage of East Brunswick at Dunellen (time TBA).

The Bears and Destroyers – two divisions apart in the GMC – are meeting because the Bears’ opening night game against Old Bridge was nixed when the Knights delayed the start of preseason practice by a week. They won’t start games until week two of the season, which starts February 1.

The opening week of games also includes girls’ basketball Thursday night, as Manville visits Bound Brook.

Click here for the full broadcast schedule of high school basketball on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

by Mike Pavlichko

COVID case on Middlesex football team shuts program down for two weeks

by Mike Pavlichko

The Middlesex football program is shut down for the next two weeks, due to two positive COVID tests – one involving a football player, another involving a cheerleader.

Athletic Director Mike O’Donnell confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio Tuesday morning that this week’s game against St. Thomas Aquinas is off.

O’Donnell also said the Blue Jays are trying to move their game on Friday, October 30 against Spotswood to Sunday, November 1.

That’s because the return date for the football team is currently set to be Friday, the 30th, meaning the team would have no time to practice before facing the Chargers. O’Donnell says they’re seeking an extra couple of days to prepare.

It all started last Friday, when O’Donnell says a football player reported that his parents had tested positive for COVID.

“Right as we thought we were able to play, we had a cheerleader with a positive test,” said O’Donnell, which then prompted the cancellation of the South River game.

O’Donnell says the football player now has tested positive, effectively shutting down the program for a while.

O’Donnell says he called St. Thomas Aquinas Athletic Director Jerry Smith and informed him of the situation even before the decision was made to pause football activities. The Trojans have since picked up Shore for this weekend’s opponent.