By Michael Letendre

Former Bristol Eastern boys basketball JV coach Ryan Raponey has quickly established himself as one of the good, young coaches in all the Central Connecticut Conference – leading his charges to the state tournament in his first season at Lewis Mills last March.

And then COVID knocked out the postseason – ending any kind of run that the Spartans were about to embark upon.

Fast forward to the pandemic shorted 2021 campaign and right as Lewis Mills was in the thick of things, Raponey was once again stymied by COVID.

Raponey, a teacher at Southington high school, had a student test positive for COVID last week and that meant the long time Eastern assistant was going to be sent home – from two different jobs.

And that meant there wouldn’t be any in-person teaching in Southington.

There wouldn’t be any trips to the Thunderdome – the name of the gymnasium at Lewis Mills high school.

And there wouldn’t be any opportunity to see his team improve on the court as his squad got hot just as the CCC Tournament is around the corner.

Raponey was forced to watch games at home instead of being on the sidelines and at recent games against Eastern and Bristol Central, someone different was calling the plays on the sidelines.

But he still had chances to talk, coach and instruct his talented crew a few times on game day.

“I’d rather be addressing the team in person,” said Raponey after his squad defeated Eastern 64-38 on Tuesday night. “When the boys came in at halftime [leading 33-13], I was able to speak with them.”

This situation is as wacky as it sounds as Raponey can talk to his team before and after games and gets in a little face time in at the halftime break.

But that’s it in terms of contact.

Raponey’s assistants, Mike O’Keefe and Rick Klett, have done an admirable job steering the ship, but it’s never the same without the head coach around.

Frankly, COVID protocols have made for some weird scholastic situations since the pandemic took hold of our world.

COVID protocol knocked Bristol Central volleyball coach Lance Pepper off the sidelines to end his season this past fall.

That created a scenario in which all the coaches from Central were forced to watch – and coach – from a television that was situated on the side of the court.

It’s interactive TV for the twenty-first century in the worst possible situation.

We all learned that Pepper has nice kitchen cabinets (as seen from the television on the court) but he’d rather have been coaching from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium at Bristol Central.

That’s exactly the position Raponey is in now.

Raponey calls what he’s doing, “coaching from the couch.”

That’s something he doesn’t enjoy as he wants to be at the games, helping and teaching his kids, as Raponey has developed and fostered an excellent culture at Lewis Mills.

“I want to be able to coach, especially with the situation I’m in sitting here as a coach” from home said Raponey. “You just don’t know what’s ahead of you the next day. And there are just so many unknowns.”

Raponey is as competitive, and well prepared, as any coach in the CCC.

He’s a bulldog on the sidelines and wants to be out where all the action is.

Raponey wants to be in that mix rather badly.

He also feels for fellow head coach and friend Bunty Ray over at Bristol Eastern, as the boys basketball program had to halt activities for two weeks – putting the team in COVID protocol as other squads around the CCC continued to play.

No one at Eastern ended up with COVID and the Lancers were stuck with a lot of games over a short window of play this past week to make-up.

“You saw what happened at Eastern which was so unfortunate,” said Raponey. “But coach Ray will get his group together this week and start playing better.”

Raponey would like to get back for the CCC Tournament as the Spartans are on a bit of a roll heading into the postseason.

Mills defeated Eastern 64-38 on Tuesday and then the following night, the Spartans were 57-49 victors at New Britain – a hard place to win under any circumstances.

And Raponey is itching to get back coaching his troops in person, getting his players prepared for the postseason experience.

“We’ll just take a few days and try to be ready for that [CCC] tournament experience,” said Raponey. “We’re really looking forward to the opportunity to play some different teams and to make a little run.”