Fall sports will go on, but with stipulations
Schools must make call to play or not
High school athletes in Pennsylvania should buckle the chin strap, put on the shin guards, lace up the running shoes and clean the clubs.
The PIAA says fall sports are on. But it’s still up to every school on whether to participate.
The PIAA board of directors voted Friday, 25-5, to conduct all fall sports as scheduled, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The PIAA made its decision despite a recent recommendation from Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania departments of Health and Education that school and recreation sports stop until Jan. 1.
Two of the five no votes came from City League athletic director Karen Arnold and Mike Allison, a representative of the WPIAL and president of the Pennsylvania Principals Association. Although the PIAA gave the go-ahead for fall sports, the organization said every school in the state must now decide if it wants to participate, so it will be up to school boards or superintendents to choose the fate of their sports teams. Football, boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball, boys and girls golf, boys and girls cross country, and field hockey are the fall sports in the PIAA.
“We’re not mandating anyone to participate,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said.
Although the PIAA voted to conduct fall sports, Lombardi said the league will continue to follow a guideline from the governor’s office and the Pennsylvania Department of Education that does not allow any fans at games in the state. Lombardi is hopeful that could change by the start of football
change by the start of football season.
In a statement Friday, the governor’s office said: “While the administration expressed broad concern with the PIAA’s plans, including its request for liability protections, we’ve made it clear to them since July that this decision should be made by the PIAA in concert with local school districts. The governor has a deep appreciation for the importance of athletics and the role sports play in the lives of student-athletes. The governor’s recommendation is grounded in public health evidence and a common-sense reaction to league after league canceling or postponing their fall seasons, outbreaks across the country, growing evidence of higher transmission in children, protecting higher-risk adults and the fundamentally important need to get kids back into learning in classrooms.”
When asked for reasons why the PIAA voted to have fall sports, Lombardi said one of the reasons was, “We think we owed it to our member schools, athletes, coaches, athletic directors, administrators, parents and communities to at least try.”
Lombardi said the PIAA has not yet come up with a date when schools need to notify the PIAA of their intentions to play fall sports or not. Some schools in Pennsylvania have already voted to cancel them, including WPIAL schools Uniontown and Summit Academy. Pittsburgh Public Schools has already recommended that fall sports be canceled for six City League high schools, and the PPS board will vote on the recommendation Wednesday.
The PIAA board also approved a motion Friday for the organization to look at alternatives for schools that decide not to play fall sports. That essentially means the PIAA might have a spring season for teams that don’t play in the fall, if there are enough of them. The WPIAL would also consider such a move.
As for the WPIAL, the next step is for the WPIAL board of directors to meet Monday afternoon, when the league will decide on guidelines to give to schools. Heat acclimatization practices for football and practices for other sports are scheduled to
“Our board will review the message we want to get to schools about what to do when there is a confirmed case and how to handle games accordingly. That’s the biggest question that’s out there right now and pretty much what everyone is asking.”
— Amy Scheuneman, WPIAL executive director
begin for all Pennsylvania schools Monday.
“I will talk to the board about it, but my recommendation would be to let schools know that we need to know by Sept. 1 if they are going to be participating,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said. “Once we have the final number of teams participating, we can evaluate.”
Lombardi addressed several other issues during Friday’s Zoom news conference.
Positive tests: The PIAA does not have a statewide rule for what teams must do if an athlete tests positive for COVID-19. This summer, some schools have shut down a team for 14 days after a positive test. Lombardi said schools must work with district health departments and follow their own school protocols when an athlete tests positive.
Scheuneman said, “Our board will review the message we want to get to schools about what to do when there is a confirmed case and how to handle games accordingly. That’s the biggest question that’s out there right now and pretty much what everyone is asking.”
Liability insurance: Lombardi said the PIAA has looked into the possibility of getting liability insurance for both the organization and schools, but a decision hasn’t been made. “It could be too cost prohibitive,” he said.
State playoffs: The PIAA had already declared that all fall sports would be concluded by Thanksgiving weekend. Usually, the PIAA football playoffs last until the first or second weekend of December. Lombardi said the PIAA is hopeful of having state playoffs for all fall sports, but that is not certain and the PIAA is not ready to issue postseason brackets. “We will find out more in weeks ahead when we ascertain how many schools are actually participating,” Lombardi said.
What’s a season?: Some coaches of fall sports are fearful that the season could start but then shut down if there are COVID-19 outbreaks. They want to know if there is a number of contests that the PIAA would consider a “season” and whether a season could be finished in the spring.
“We’ll be monitoring this every day, through our districts and our board, starting Monday,” Lombardi said. “If there comes a time when the districts [around the state] or our board sees something troublesome, then another decision will need to be made. We wanted to do our best provide a start.”
Officials: There has been a shortage of officials for some high school sports in Pennsylvania and across the country. Lombardi said, “We have done a preliminary look-and-see on the number of officials who have gone on what we could call ‘inactive status’ for the fall season, and it’s less than 1%. We believe we’ll have enough.”
Transfers: Lombardi said the PIAA transfer rule will not be relaxed, even if an athlete wants to leave a school that has decided not to have fall sports. The PIAA transfer rule states an athlete can be ruled ineligible for a season if they transfer for athletic reasons.
According to playfootball.nfl.com, 17 states and the District of Columbia have pushed football back to the spring, but Pennsylvania is now one of 19 states to play football as scheduled. Thirteen other states delayed the start of the season.
The PIAA’s decision to have fall sports affects more than 100,000 high school students in Pennsylvania. According to the most recent National Federation of State High School Association participation statistics from the 2018-19 school year, Pennsylvania had 119,000 boys and girls competing in fall sports.