FHSAA sets a framework for the fall sports season

The board requested another meeting on Friday morning to further explore the information from its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. The FHSAA will also take public comment.

The choice to start on time came with a warning from his own advisory committee and it was that information that provided a lot of dialogue throughout the night.

Wewahitchka coach and athletic director Bobby Johns made a motion to allow teams to start when they want to, the first date allowed is still July 27, but schools don’t have to start at that time. Many in the state will not.

Many counties represented by board members said Monday that their district schools are not in a position to start next week. The FHSAA said it intended to be flexible throughout the season so that schools that are not in one place to start on July 27 do not have to.

The breakthrough in an overnight session came with concessions on the back of the calendar after three separate motions for a start date of August 10 were struck down.

Schools would have to declare their intentions as to whether they would participate in the state series playoffs on a certain date. That date will be determined by the FHSAA.

If they choose not to participate in the state series, for example, a program in Miami-Dade County, they could play until the end of the state series playoffs for essentially a more complete season. Schools opting for the state series option would play a normal season, including district games (in classes 5A and above) and would be ranked on the MaxPreps system that determines the playoff field. That way, a regular season and the postseason remain somewhat intact.

Schools that choose the non-state series option may complete a regular season schedule that ends on the date of the last game of the state championship. No change, that date would be December 12.

On a day when California and Georgia state high school associations announced their calendar adjustments, Florida finally made its way, albeit against the advice of its medical advisory committee. That will undoubtedly be a point of discussion and I was already generating comments on social media from at least one area coach.

Columbia head coach Brian Allen, who has yet to start summer conditioning training due to the coronavirus, spoke shortly after the decision, saying he declined “to be the guinea pig.”

“Our position is that returning to the competition for high-risk sports in soccer and volleyball at this time is not medically safe,” said Dr. Jennifer Maynard, a family physician and sports medicine doctor at the Mayo Clinic and a member of the consultive advice. committee.

Three meetings of its fall sports task force in the past month led to a strong recommendation: delay the start of practice by two weeks and allow schools to choose between three time periods between late August and late September to begin their seasons.

That plan, originally known as Plan B and put to the test by FHSAA’s Justin Harrison, was eventually rejected with a 16-0 vote on Monday. Two other motions were also stifled with the starting dates of August 10.

Most of Monday’s meeting focused on a report from the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and whether or not that should be credited. A board member cited it as an editorial rather than fact. That report sparked a conversation that split into a dozen different addresses.

Maynard presented a report that strongly recommended the delay in soccer and volleyball, saying that statewide numbers would need to show a 28-day decrease for the committee to say it considered comfortable games could be held. The state, which has seen an increase in cases in the past six weeks, is nowhere near meeting that criteria.

The committee voted 10-0 to recommend the postponement of soccer and volleyball and also incorporate exemptions for athletes and their parents to sign before participating. A motion to withdraw part of the advisory committee’s suggestion on a COVID-19 questionnaire and essentially a resignation, was rejected with a 12-4 vote.

“It is our moral and ethical duty as the FHSAA SMAC to make fair and just recommendations to the FHSAA board of directors, based on medical facts, what we know and what we do not know about COVID-19,” Maynard said.

In the sometimes tense session, filled with data points and uncertain back-to-school dates and Executive Director George Tomyn’s leadership questioned, the board listened to all of its members.

Tomyn was publicly against plans to delay the start date, and board members were passionate that July 27 was unrealistic.

“It is worrying that we ask children for social distance at school and then we put them on an athletic field and we say, ‘well, we don’t care about that anymore, we are going to hit each other and we are going to do this,'” he said. Mark Schusterman, athletic director for Gulliver Prep.

School districts across the state have been discussing back-to-campus plans, some of which include back-to-school start dates that are delayed by a couple of weeks.

St. Johns County has requested a two-week delay to start. Clay and Duval counties are exploring delayed start dates. Nassau County is considering a return on August 10. Districts in other parts of the state, including those in the Miami-Dade and Broward County regions, are not as advanced in their plans for returning to school. Those counties are still in Phase 1 of its reopening. The school cannot reopen until Phase 2.