Schedule proposed to save 2020-2021 HS athletic season
The high school Fall sports schedule is fast approaching in Arkansas. In fact, student-athletes are already preparing for football, tennis, golf, cross country and volleyball, all of which are currently scheduled to start in late August or September.
Because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of those schedules are tentative.
Several college athletic conferences have already thrown in the towel on competition this Fall, including the Colonial Athletic Association, MEAC, Patriot League and Ivy League. The NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) has moved football to Spring, 2021.
A number of Division II and Division III conferences announced they have canceled all sports this Fall.
The Arkansas Activities Association, in its last press release, said the Fall schedule is still in effect. But the association releases a statement weekly. Everything is subject to change.
El Dorado athletic director Phillip Lansdell sat down and created his own proposal that would move high school football to the Spring, 2021. Under Lansdell's proposal, the first football practices would begin January 3 with the season opening on or after January 31. The playoffs would begin April 11 with the championship games running May 9 through May 16.
“I put together the sports season plan because of all the discussion around the possibility of not playing any sports this year,”
Lansdell explained. “I took the current AAA format and adjusted it according to the Governors directive on which sports could play with no contact. The schedule allows for the sports that can play now to begin in the summer/ fall and the close contact sports would be playing in the winter and spring. It also does not have much if any overlap and allows athletes to still participate in more than one sport.”
Lansdell's proposal would have baseball, softball, track and field, tennis and golf as Fall sports.
This would benefit athletes who compete in baseball, softball, track, tennis and golf over the summer as it would lead them directly into high school competition.
Volleyball and cross country would move to the Spring.
“Cross country and track switch seasons because you have a large number of football players that also run track and it would be difficult to have them at the same time and the two sports also use the same facilities along with soccer,” said Lansdell. “The schedule is just a working document to see when each sport could be played. This format would only be for the current year. This is just a backup plan because currently sports seasons are scheduled to start as normal.”
Lansdell said his proposal was sent to the AAA but emphasized, it's just a proposal in case the seasons have to be readjusted or canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. As it currently stands, the Fall season is still scheduled to go on as scheduled.