FHSAA to set all schedules Friday
After two emergency FHSAA board meetings in July, the organization will have even more on its plate when it convenes again Friday morning in Gainesville to address how best to play high school sports during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Florida High School Athletic Association’s 16-person board will weigh fresh statements made by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio calling for the association to stick with its current Aug. 24 start date for official fall tryouts and practices.
It will also be looking at an updated report from its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC), which “strongly recommends” another postponement to allow time to evaluate “crucial” COVID-19 data for three to four weeks after schools have opened.
There will undoubtedly be other new talking points, including revisions to options the FHSAA has discussed with its coaches advisory committees. The board could also consider news that North Carolina on Wednesday moved all start dates back and shifted football season to February. According to Highschoolfoot
ballamerica.com, N.C. is the 13th state to push football to 2021.
Friday’s meeting, at the Best Western Gateway Grand, will be held in front of a small crowd due to Alachua County coronavirus guidelines. But after initially saying it would not provide livestreaming the FHSAA is making the meeting available online to the public for free online through the National Federation of High Schools Network.
Among the moves to watch for:
George Tomyn, the FHSAA’s executive director, is expected to stay consistent in his support for the Option 1 plan with an Aug. 24 practice date for football, girls volleyball, cross country, bowling, golf and swimming. Games would begin the week of Sept. 4, including a 10-week football season. Some schools, particularly in South Florida, would start later.
Playoffs, including all teams that opt in regardless of record, would kick off Nov. 13 and culminate with state finals from Dec. 10-12 and 17-19. The other state final end dates would be Nov. 4 for golf, Nov. 5 for bowling, Nov. 6-7 for cross country and swimming, and Nov. 13-14 for volleyball.
Option 2, which would have deleted the state series and replaced it with localized playoffs, has been scratched from the agenda.
Option 3 would push practice back three more months to Nov. 30 and begin regular seasons two weeks before Christmas. Playoffs would start in midJanuary and conclude with the last of the eight football finals Feb. 20. That increases the chances that teams in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach could participate.
SMAC offered an amended version of the FHSAA’s “Option 3” plan that would allow fall teams to start practicing sooner, on Oct. 12, if coronavirus trends make that feasible.
That time frame would allow state playoffs to be completed in December and not spill over past the holiday break into the second semester. That plan was endorsed unanimously (13-0) by the SMAC panel but calls for further review prior to greenlighting each step forward.
A proposal by board member Richard Finlayson, principal of Aucilla Christian in Jefferson County, would allow teams to seek approval from the FHSAA executive director to practice and play earlier in cases where sports have been delayed by more than four weeks from the original start date.
That speaks directly to schools, mostly in small North Florida communities, that have relatively low coronavirus numbers and are begging to begin their fall seasons. They would opt out of state series contention under this stipulation.
A wild-card concept that might be be part of the conversation would flip-flop some seasons, with football and girls volleyball shifting to the spring as “high-risk” sports. Baseball, softball and track and field, sports halted midway through their seasons in March by the COVID-19 outbreak, would move to the fall.
Oviedo girls volleyball coach Jen Darty, who is her school’s athletic director and a FHSAA volleyball committee representative, is in favor of adopting Option 3 but with an earlier start date.
“It provides the most opportunity for a regular season as well as a state series and equity across the state,” she said. “It allows the most schools the opportunity to participate.
“I think going to Nov. 30 is something the FHSAA saw as the last possible window for fall sports. If we can safely do it earlier, why wouldn’t we?”
Seven of the 10 girls volleyball coaches who replied to a Sentinel email survey preferred Option 1 and its Aug. 24 startup. Two others voted for Option 2. Several said postponing their sport could force girls to have to choose between club and high school teams.
The survey numbers were similar for football, with 22 of 28 head coaches who replied checking off Option 1 as their first choice.
As currently written, Option 3 would move golf and swimming from fall to spring. That plan is not popular among area coaches.
“I think that’s absurd,” longtime Lake Brantley swim coach Clay Parnell said. “You can’t expect to run a state meet in midJune and expect any kind of excitement for that if our kids have already graduated.”
He and others note that if school is out, summer programs will take over the pools and elite swimmers will be preparing for major national meets. They also point at a Florida Swimming Association survey that indicated that programs up and running this summer had 7,664 swimmers and only 18 testing positive for COVID-19.
“And out of 7,600 kids, none of those positives were traced back to swim practices,” said Oviedo High coach Charlie Rose, who also operates the Blue Dolphin swim club.
Facility availability could be a problem because
YMCA pools are closed to all except members at this point.
Area swim head coaches were split in our survey. Option 1 was favored by seven, Option 3 by five.
“I do think postponing and having a little bit shorter season is something to think about,” Rose said. “I think having the state series is very important. If that means we have a shorter season and it’s safer, I’m all for it.”
Winter Park boys golf coach Rob Robison chairs the FHSAA golf advisory committee. He said that group voted unanimously in favor of Option 1.
They say fall is ideal because it fits daylight savings time, which allows more time for after-school matches. That ends Nov. 1.
“Golf is the one sport that’s been played for the last three months, both amateur and professionally,” Robison said. “The courses are open My guys have been back playing since April.
“Our sport is inherently socially distant. We can definitely play.”
Area golf coaches favored Option 1 and its Aug. 24 start date by a big 14-2 margin.
Half of the eight participating bowling coaches liked Option 2 best. They gave two votes for Option 1 and two for Option 3.
Venues will be a problem for some. Orlando’s Boardwalk Bowl Entertainment Center, which hosts the state tournament and is home base for a large contingent of Orange County high school teams, has notified schools that capacity will be limited for a while.
Cross country survey responses were varied. Option 1 received seven votes, Option 3 five and Option 2 got two.
“Everything I’ve read about the European kids that are back in school is that they don’t catch it, and they don’t spread it,” said Doug Butler, coach of state champ Satellite. ‘We’re not a contact sport. It’s ridiculous if you say our kids can’t compete.”
But DeLand coach Jim Lowenstein said allowing schools to sort out this year’s complicated opening of schools before athletics are added to the equation would be best.
“By Nov. 30 we will know if being in the classroom will work, and subsequently if athletics can work,” Lowenstein said.