A plan to allow state tourneys
MIAA has whiffed on the subject so far
There is a chance for an MIAA state tournament. Athletic directors and school administrators should make it happen.
On Wednesday, the MIAA Board of Directors will decide whether or not any state tournaments should take place this spring. The Board has already approved sectional tournaments for the spring — the first season all year that will have an MIAA-sanctioned tournament as Massachusetts tries to battle through the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s not enough.
The first three athletic calendar seasons have come and gone without postseason play. School districts, boards of health and administrators were concerned about long distance travel as cases continued to either rise or plateau and schools struggled to open their doors. It’s a testament to the work of the MIAA COVID19 Task Force, Sports Medicine Committee, and Board of Directors that every sport that has been cleared by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) is in line to have a semblance of a season during the 2020-21 year. Those groups kept looking for ways to give student-athletes the best possible experience and a chance to play their favorite sport. Football, basketball and ice hockey seasons all got off the ground once approved by the EEA.
Leagues inaugurated conference tournaments. Many hope they stick around in the future.
But it’s time to move past simply being happy about providing an experience. When spring athletes take the field April 26, it will be for most the first time in nearly 650 days. These students were the only ones to receive no experience at all in 2020. No championships or sectional tournaments — not even a tryout.
As schools begin to welcome students back into buildings, and vaccinations become more prevalent across Massachusetts, a state tournament is only fair.
The MIAA Tournament Management Committee, led by a subcommittee spearheaded by Wahconah athletic director Jared Shannon, created the parameters for a spring tournament. It outlined an open tournament where any team regardless of record could opt in or opt out by June 2, thus allowing teams hampered by a COVID-19 shutdown during the regular season to still participate. And teams that do not wish to participate or cannot due to local health protocols may still play games up until the final day of the MIAA season.
The only problem with an otherwise standout proposal from the TMC is that it doesn’t end with a state final.
The MIAA Board of Directors had a chance to do the right thing when they convened on Friday. The Board knew spring tournaments were going to be on the agenda; it was listed as the only action item. Instead of using the time leading up to the meeting to determine if their districts supported a state tournament, the board kicked the can back to individual schools, asking them to participate in a hastily conceived survey on the matter.
To allow state tournaments, the Board should reduce the days required for competition after the first day of practice from 11 to seven days. Wrestling, if approved by the EEA, would likely still need the maximum amount of days due to the amount of physical contact. A reduction in the amount of required practices would let games begin May 3. Schools could play two or three league games a week depending on restrictions, bringing the total number of regular season contests to around 12 by June 5.
The TMC should move the cutoff date back from June 15 to June 11. Teams could use the final six days of the season to play nonleague games, hold a shortened league tournament, or simply play a few more league contests.
The first round of the tournament would begin on June 14 with sectional finals taking place on June 24-25. State semifinals would be on June 28 with a state final on July 1. This would ensure the season would conclude prior to July 4 weekend and the originally given end date of July 3. In entirety, the tournament would take 17 days to complete from start to finish — exactly the same amount of time on average a normal spring tournament takes in a normal season.
The MIAA Board of Directors and Tournament Management Committee can make this happen for spring student-athletes. They must ensure this trying year for student-athletes ends on a celebratory note.