The PIAA continues to move forward with the expectation that fall athletics will be played on time in 2020.
On Wednesday, the PIAA Board of Directors approved a set of return to competition guidelines that will provide schools with guidance on how to safely return to competitive sports during the pandemic.
If schools decide to wait to start the season, there are several different start dates they can target. The normal return to athletics would be August 20 for golf, August 24 for women’s tennis, August 28 for soccer, and September 4 for other fall sports, with heat acclimatization and first practice on August 10 and 17. respectively.
Executive Director Bob Lombardi said during a question-and-answer session after the meeting that, according to his current understanding, there will be no spectators under current guidelines in the state.
However, if teams wish, they can start on September 18 for soccer and September 14 for other fall sports. This alternative plan would allow soccer to begin practicing on August 10 along with heat acclimatization, but for all sports, in addition to golf and tennis, it would require athletics to have three weeks of practice before a season begins. Schools may also adopt a hybrid schedule that allows fall sports to begin anytime before October 5 or later with district approval.
Teams will have the option to opt out of a game during the regular season or postseason out of concern about the coronavirus. During a regular season, the school must submit in writing to the district president why it does not want to play the game and the respective district committee may decide whether the game is considered “not a game rather than a loss.”
However, if a team says they don’t want to play a postseason game due to coronavirus concerns, the game will be deemed lost. At the district level, the school principal must present in writing that he is withdrawing from the postseasons to the district president. Outside of the district playoffs, the principal has to present his retirement from the playoffs to Lombardi.
The PIAA decided that if a student on one team tests positive for coronavirus, the entire team must remain in quarantine for two weeks or 10 days, according to CDC guidelines at the time of the test. He said there would be a difference in how a school should handle a positive test during the regular season versus the postseason.
The PIAA recognizes that some sports in the state may have a better chance of completing a season than others. In the annex to the meeting, the Sports Medicine Advisory Steering Committee said sports with large numbers and physical contact are challenging, while the chances of student-athletes competing in tennis and golf “appear to be likely and may have a good chance of completing a season. “
If schools switch to remote learning, the PIAA decided that does not mean that athletics should be canceled and noted that there are policies in place that allow students to compete with cyber education.
Outlined in the attachment to the meeting, the Sports Medicine Advisory Steering Committee wrote that there are many “what if” and the most important is what happens if the PIAA doesn’t try to have a season and closes early. He then added that “for that reason, the Committee believes that, based on the information it currently knows, an effort should be made to give students the opportunity to participate in a reasonably safe environment.”
The board approved in the SMAC minutes that a general policy statement should be added to the return to competition guidelines:
Based on currently known information, the Committee believes that the STRICT ADHERENCE of schools and teams to their plans adopted by the school and the Governor’s School Sports Orientation should provide a reasonably safe environment for student athletes to participate in interscholastic athletics as currently scheduled, “the statement read.
There was also a proposal to reduce the number of postseason qualifiers to only district champions, but that will be discussed further at the next board meeting on August 26.
Different steering committees discussed individualized plans for each sport, and minutes were approved for each.
To view the complete guidelines for return to competition, click here.
– Follow Ed Sutelan on Twitter, @EdwardSutelan
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