Low-risk sports can begin Feb. 1
Wrestling, indoor track and dance/ cheer seasons would be postponed in latest CIAC proposal
According to a letter sent to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference from the state Department of Public Health, practices for low-to-moderate risk winter sports should not begin until Jan. 19, while in-state competitions should begin no earlier than Feb. 1.
“Assuming community metrics continue an appropriate downward trend and athletic activities are not impacting in-person learning, interscholastic in-state competitions should begin no earlier than February 1, 2021,” acting DPH commissioner Deidre Gifford wrote in the letter dated Jan. 8.
The DPH advised that highrisk sports — including wrestling, competitive dance and cheer — do not hold activities beyond small-group conditioning and individual skill-building for the winter season. Additionally, the DPH advises against large, multiteam indoor track meets, as well as any activities involving out-of-state facilities, athletes or competition.
“We would like to re-visit the question of out-of-state athletic activities after February at a later date,” Gifford wrote.
According to the DPH, all coaches, officials and athletes participating in winter sports should wear masks while competing, mirroring sector rules passed down by the state in November.
“DPH feels that the use of masks during athletic and other activities for ‘source control’ (that is, to control the spread of respiratory droplets from the mouth and nose of the wearer) is necessary to protect participants, their families, and their school communities against the increasing risk of COVID19 infection,” Gifford wrote. “In addition, the latest guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that youth athletes wear cloth face coverings when they are on the sidelines, in the locker room, and traveling as well as during group training and active competition (except in pools or while using certain gymnastics apparatus).”
Gov. Ned Lamont said
Monday at a press briefing that low-to-moderate risk youth sports (basketball, ice hockey, indoor track, gymnastics and swimming) can being practices on Jan. 19, and competitions on Feb. 1. Continued precautions announced by Lamont include no out of state games or camps, no tournaments and mandated masking while participating. All sports are subject to “continued stability in COVID-19 metrics.”
According to a CIAC proposal sent to athletic directors, wrestling, indoor track and field and competitive cheer and dance will be postponed this winter season. The proposal also states that basketball, gymnastics, ice hockey and boys swimming will play a maximum of 12 regular season contests, with six needed to qualify for the state tournament. A start date for competition has not yet been established, and the proposed state tournament schedule (Mar. 8-21) is subject to change, pending the first contest date.
CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini told The Courant that the proposal is strictly for planning purposes, and the CIAC’s board of control will meet Thursday to approve or deny the plan. The winter season is slated to begin Jan. 19. The board of control met last Thursday to approve mitigating strategies for each sport, which were sent to member schools Monday.
“The CIAC has received updated COVID winter sports guidance from the Connecticut Department of Public Health,” the CIAC said in a statement Monday. “We thank DPH for its timely work, detailed guidance, and continued collaboration in the safe return to interscholastic sports for CIAC member school athletes. Ahead of Thursday’s CIAC board of control meeting, the updated guidance will be reviewed by the CIAC Sports Medicine Committee. The CIAC Board of Control will consider approval of finalized winter sports plans at Thursday’s meeting. An update will be provided after our schools have been notified of any actions taken by the Board.”
One sticking point may be if school districts decide not to participate. According to theletteroutliningmitigating strategies and recommendations by the CIAC, which was obtained by The Courant, the CIAC, in consultation with its sports medicine committee, encourages “schools located in towns color coded as ‘red’ to review the COVID climate in that district, with that district’s school doctor and local DPH, to determine the appropriateness of continuing with game competitions. The principal or her/his designee of schools located in towns color coded as ‘red’ must notify their league commissioner and the CIAC whether they choose to continue with game competition.”
Currently, there are only five towns out of the 169 towns in the state that are not in “the red.”
Also according to the letter, masks must be worn in all sports while competing with the exception of gymnastics. Gymnasts must wear masks all other times except when they are competing or practicing on equipment as the mask could “come off, move or become a distraction and increase the risk of injury.”
In basketball and hockey, there will be mask breaks and officials may stop play if masks are out of place or fall off.
Boys swim meets, as was the case with girls swimming in the fall, may be held virtually or in-person, as each school sees fit. The CIAC is recommending gymnastics meets be held virtually “as much as possible,” but schools may also be able to participate in video meets (where routines are videotaped and submitted for scoring) or hub meets, where judges go to one school and two teams compete against each other, then two more, then two more at different times with equipment sanitizing in between each meet.
Basketball games must be scheduled within each school’s league, which should create divisions based on geography and play “as many games as possible within those divisions,” according to the letter. Gymnastics and boys swimming must schedule within leagues when possible, and if not possible, must compete virtually. Hockey should schedule within leagues as well and if not possible, distance should be a factor in scheduling with closer opponents favored.
In the proposal, the CIAC advised against allowing fans and spectators, but noted it will be handled on a schoolto-school basis.
“The CIAC believes that prohibiting fan/spectator attendance aligns best with the goals of education-based athletics. Any allowance for spectators/fans should align with DECD sector rules,” the proposalread.“Notwithstanding the above, permissible spectator/fan attendance will be governed by local districts’ current operating plan.”