MIAA wrestling hinges on success of football

EEA to monitor start of season, provide guidance

The matter of whether a wrestling season will take place could very well be based on how football handles the first few weeks of the season.

MIAA Assistant Executive Director and wrestling liaison Phil Napolitano said the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) will be monitoring football and will provide guidance based on whether wrestling can be moved into Level 3 (it is currently Level 2, which does not permit competitions). Napolitano said conversations with the EEA have been positive to date and with the wrestling season not scheduled to begin until April 26, the EEA wanted the opportunity to evaluate the start of football.

Among the topics discussed in the 90-minute meeting was the possibility of restricting scheduling to dual and tri-meets only. One of the concerns over having only dual-meet competition is if a team forfeits a weight class, then a wrestler goes without wrestling. If a third team is around, it lessens the chance of a student-athlete going the day without a match. The EEA guidelines permit a team playing against two different opposing teams in a single day provided that they adhere to the guidance outlined on Page 6 of the EEA guidelines.

The possibility of wrestling out-of-state competition was briefly discussed. Given the travel restrictions due to COVID, it could create additional problems finding an out-of-state match, especially when the wrestlers return to Massachusetts.

One interesting idea which was mentioned was the possibility of conducting matches outdoors if a school has the ability. This clearly negates any issues of competing indoors where ventilation and other issues could present problems.

The committee voted 16-0 to accept all the modifications as is and send them along to Sports Medicine for further guidance.

With the Tournament Management Committee speaking about spring sectional tournaments in its meeting on Wednesday, Burlington wrestling coach Paul Shvartsman posed the question as to whether wrestling could host individual sectional tournaments.

After he was told it was unlikely, he broached the subject of wrestling having league and sectional tournaments as basketball and other sports did. Shvartsman feels there is no reason why wrestling could not successfully host a sectional team meet.

Many of these issues will be discussed in the next meeting in late April.