No mask needed for spring sports

PIAA still encouraging social distancing

All winter long, athletes wearing masks during competition has been a major point of contention.

Although the PIAA has insisted all member schools must abide by the statewide mask mandate set forth by Gov. Tom Wolf’s office, many schools have not required their students to wear masks while playing a sport, while others have chosen to wear them around their chin. With such minimal enforcement of the mandate, some have wondered whether the issue of wearing masks during games would linger into spring.

On Wednesday, the PIAA gave its answer.

Based on comments from executive director Bob Lombardi after the PIAA board of directors’ monthly Zoom meeting, it appears athletes will not be required to wear cloth face coverings during the upcoming spring sports season — provided they are able to maintain at least six feet of social distancing. This applies to players and coaches, both in the field and in the dugout/bench area for baseball and softball.

Lombardi said the board has worked tirelessly to ensure spring sports athletes who missed out on an entire year of competition in 2020 will be afforded the opportunity to play as close to a full season as possible in 2021.

Return-to-play guidelines

The board met with its sports medicine advisory committee to approve its return-to-play guidelines for spring sports, and they were mostly unchanged from the fall and winter guidelines.

For baseball and softball, pitchers are encouraged not to lick their fingers or blow into their hands before pitching the ball, and if softball pitchers choose to wear a face covering during play, they may not wear an optic yellow mask because the ball is the same color. Teams may also choose to extend the dugout/bench area down the foul lines to make room for proper social distancing.

Giant Center seating

The PIAA had a site visit at the Giant Center last week in advance of the upcoming PIAA individual wrestling and basketball championships taking place at the arena in Hershey, Pa.

Shortly after the visit, Gov. Wolf’s office increased the capacity limit on indoor gatherings in the state from 10% to 15%, meaning there is a chance more spectators will be allowed in for the basketball championships than initially planned.

The PIAA had anticipated allowing for about 500 spectators total for the basketball championships. Now, Lombardi sounds hopeful each school will be allotted between 600-700 tickets for spectators for each game. “We haven’t gotten that number yet,” he said. “But we’ll take what we can get, and we’re thankful the governor has relaxed those [ requirements].”

For the wresting championships, tickets still won’t available to the general public.