FHSAA director opposes plan to adjust July 27 sports start date

George Tomyn, executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association, is not recommending passage of a plan to launch fall sports that came out of recent meetings of the FHSAA’s newly formed Fall Sports Task Force.

The proposal, which would allow fall teams across the state to select their own start dates based on local coronavirus conditions, is scheduled to be considered in an emergency meeting of the FHSAA’s 16-member board of directors on Monday.

Tomyn told the Orlando Sentinel he does not believe major changes to the association’s July 27 practice start date and classification policies are necessary at this point.

“We think our schools are divided into appropriate classifications right now,” Tomyn said. “We believe the current calendar and the current structure is adequate for us to go forward as we enter the fall season. There are schools that are ready to go right now. But if you’re a school or a district where it is not safe to play, you do not have to.

“We certainly are not going to penalize any school that cannot start on July 27. That is simply the start of our window for fall sports.”

The task force recommendation, which pushes the first allowed day of fall practice back two weeks to Aug. 10, was initially presented as a rough draft form concept by FHSAA administrator Justin Harrison in the second of three lengthy online meetings of a committee that was created to brainstorm return-to-play ideas for schools that saw sports shut down in mid-March. The plan was designed as a means to accommodate concerns of schools in South Florida and elsewhere that have said current COVID-19 conditions make it impossible for their teams to be ready to gather for on-campus practices on July 27 or even close to that date.

Many of those campuses remain shuttered while others,