Gov. Tom Wolf’s recommendation that youth sports be postponed until Jan. 1 was met Thursday with mixed reactions.

Wolf’s suggestion that “we don’t do any sports until Jan. 1” first came during a morning news conference when he was asked about spectators at high school sporting events.

By the afternoon, his administration had issued a “strong recommendation” but “not an order or mandate” that all school and youth sports be called off until 2021.

Leechburg athletic director Andre Carter said he wasn’t sure how he feels about the recommendation.

Student-athletes have already commenced preseason workouts, and the district has enacted a safety plan that he said he feels keeps students and coaches safe.

“I don’t have a feeling either way,” Carter said. “I understand why we would be pushed to January. However, I think our school has put in place the necessary safety precautions. We’re ready to go now.”

For Anna Wojtseck, there’s no question sports should go on.

Her son, Dakota Powell, will be a senior at Greensburg Salem this year — and he’s eager for football season.

“I support going back to school and I support going back to sports as long as precautions are taken. If the kids want to play and the parents are comfortable with them playing, I think they should play,” Wojtseck said.

Her son’s football team has already been training with covid-19 guidelines in place.

“The communication is definitely unclear,” she said. “They’re making all these plans and moving forward as if there’s going to be a season. Then you have what happens today. It’s unclear.”

What is clear, she said, is that athletes like her son will be upset if they’re stripped of sports.

“It’ll be pretty devastating and frustrating for the kids,” she said.

It’ll also be frustrating for coaches, said John Skiba, who coaches Apollo-Ridge’s football team. The team has been practicing while following coronavirus guidelines. So far, he said, he’s heard no complaints or concerns from parents or athletes. He and his staff have “no reservations” about forging ahead with football.

“I think these kids want to be involved in something. They need to be involved in something,” he said.

Skiba worries about the students’ mental health if sports — and the associated benefits to health and socialization — are ripped away this fall.

“These kids need an outlet. There’s a lot of positive in what we do,” he said. “When we do things under the guidelines, we should still be able to function. I think there should be sports.”

Like Carter, Skiba was unclear about what Wolf’s morning news conference comment really meant. Believing it was a recommendation, not a rule, he still held practice Thursday and plans to continue doing so unless there’s an official mandate that scraps sports.

“I would just like for someone to make a decision,” he said. “It’d be nice if we had some sound leadership.”