Summer slipping away as PIAA stays mum on fall sports
What will happen in August to high school sports around here? Nobody has the answer. Not coaches, not administrators, not parents, not the PIAA.
Aug. 10 marks the first day on PIAA’s fall sports schedule. Real, organized practicing is permitted. Technically, it’s called heat acclimatization week. Physical contact is forbidden. The following week is when the fun starts.
By now, every school district in the state wishing to have an athletics department has implemented a school-board health and safety plan for the coronavirus age. Voluntary workouts at high schools throughout the state got under way in late June.
The big test will come when football players are are in full pads and helmets, currently scheduled for Aug. 17. That’s when teams get serious and game plans for the opening weekend of the regular season are set.
The most important question is how can football players stay safe in this period of so much uncertainty?
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the PIAA is keeping a close eye on the decisions colleges have made. For instance, the Centennial Conference and Ivy League have already canned their fall sports seasons, leaving the PIAA to seek direction from the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Gov. Tom Wolf himself.
Until then, high school athletes across the state remain in the dark.
“We really need more guidance and more information from those agencies before any finalization could come from us because things change weekly,” Robert Lombardi, the PIAA’s executive director, told the Post-Gazette last week.
That’s not an encouraging sign.
Most folks are well-educated on the dangers of this seemingly never-ending virus. No, it didn’t magically disappear in April. No, 99 percent of cases are not harmless.
Making this an even more unsatisfactory situation for the PIAA is that new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were announced late last week
... and the numbers are not promising. Pennsylvania reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus infections for the first time since May 10. A wide portion of the blame for the rising numbers, state officials said, was crowded bars where people aren’t wearing masks.
It’s the middle of July and cases have spiked, at least momentarily. That bit of news doesn’t bode well for high school sports.
“I don’t see how they can do it, not at where we are right now, and who knows where we will be next week or next month?” Chester football coach LaDontay Bell said recently. “It’s going to be difficult to tell these guys to go outside, start hitting each other, and come (Aug. 28) have these guys ready to play football. You want to see it happen, but there’s so many things you have to consider, and first is the safety and health of the kids.”
There are ancillary concerns to consider, too. The sidelines, as we know them, could look a lot different. Anywhere from 50 to 100 players, staff, trainers and officials roam the out of bounds area during the course of a 2½to three-hour game. And what of transportation? School budgets could be stretched transporting players, coaches and equipment. Perhaps gone are the days that teams get by using one or two buses to get from Point A to Point B.
Don’t be surprised if fall sports happen ... except for football. A case could be made that volleyball – played indoors – goes by the wayside along with football. However, cross country, tennis, field hockey and soccer shouldn’t have much of a problem following CDC guidelines.
The smart play, for the PIAA, would be to push everything back. No need to wait around and see what happens in the next couple weeks. Take direction from nearby states. The New Jersey State Interscholastic Association has delayed the start of fall practices and eliminated the Week Zero game from its football schedule. Jersey football teams will play their first regular season games
Oct. 2.
The PIAA should take it one step further. If regular seasons were to begin in the second week of September, would that be so terrible? An eight-week football schedule is feasible. District playoffs can run through Thanksgiving weekend. If you have to, the PIAA can do away with state tournaments. Does anyone expect to be in Hershey this fall, anyway?
It’s an idea.
But for now, we are in the dark, wondering what happens next.