Perkiomen School preps ‘in-house’ athletics for fall
Another area school has decided to not compete in inter-school sports for the fall 2020 season.
That’s not to say the local prep school’s fall athletes will be idle at the start of the upcoming school year.
Perkiomen School, prompted by a decision from the Penn-Jersey Athletic Association to cancel all sports through Jan. 1, 2021, will be taking an alternative course of action. The plan was confirmed Saturday by Perkiomen athletic director/baseball head coach Ken Baker.
“Perk is going to an inhouse athletic program,”
Baker explained. “We will run our normal fall sports and activities, with the addition of baseball and basketball.”
Short of not doing anything this fall, Perkiomen’s interscholastic sports programs will be active in the possible absence of competition with other schools.
“Each program will be working on drills and techniques for their sport,” Baker said. “We haven’t totally ruled out having competition, but if we do have an opportunity later, it will be carefully looked at by the sport and the opponent.
“At this point, we are moving forward without any competition. Each sport will also try to get recruiting video for juniors and seniors to help with their process.”
The school fields teams in seven sports during the fall season: Boys and girls cross country, co-ed golf, football, boys and girls soccer, girls tennis and girls volleyball. There are five junior-varsity programs — golf, boys soccer (two), girls tennis and volleyball — in addition to boys and girls soccer at the middle-school level.
Perkiomen was looking to its first year of competition as a member of the PJAA, the association having recently merged with the Tri-County League to form an organization comprised of 22 schools with various numbers of teams participating in sports. Now, its debut with PennJersey will be delayed until the next calendar year.
“The PJAA has decided to postpone all league-sanctioned athletic competitions for fall 2020, which includes post-season, awards, and all-star competitions,” association president Joe Spera said in a letter disseminated to the member schools. “This was a difficult decision, but the health and safety of our communities was at the forefront of our discussions.
“Our plan is to resume league competition no earlier than January 2021 and to provide an interscholastic athletics experience for students in all sports by developing three abbreviated seasons during the remainder of the school year. Over the next few weeks, PJAA members will meet to explore the options for the three abbreviated season model to ensure all league sports will be played beginning in January 2021. Our Return-to-Play plan will include a robust set of expectations from our school communities to ensure that our student athletes, coaches, officials, staff, and spectators are safe. We will be following all local, state and CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommendations to ensure a successful, safe return.”
At the same time, Spera noted the league’s members will be working up to that point for the benefit of students who would normally have played sports in the fall.
“We will continue, as PJAA athletic directors, to meet regularly this fall to collaborate across our schools to best support our students, our programs, and our communities,” he said.
The announcement comes at the same time another prep school in the region has called off its fall sports season.
The Hill School posted a letter to its website outlining its plan for the start of the 2020-21 school year in terms of athletic endeavors.