OHSAA reaffirms start of fall sports

A day before the fall high school sports season begins, the OHSAA Board of Directors informed member schools it intends to move forward with high school athletics as planned. Low/ non-contact and contact sports are permitted to begin practices on Aug. 1.

Communication from the OHSAA was provided amid announcements by numerous schools they would postpone extracurricular activities in accordance with county health department recommendations. Cuyahoga County’s Board of Health recommendation to begin the school year remotely could result in six members of the Lake Erie League to suspend athletics, leaving Lorain as the conference’s only school standing.

Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights and Garfield Heights already suspended athletics. Bedford, Warrensville Heights and Maple Heights are also located in Cuyahoga County but are yet to make an announcement.

If all of the schools suspend athletics, the Titans could be left with just four games on their football schedule. For now, athletic director Bryan Koury said Lorain’s

teams will being their seasons as usual Aug. 1.

“Our kids are going to practice tomorrow, they are going to practice on Monday and they are going to practice on Tuesday,” Koury said. “We will see how things unfold. I wish I knew more . ... and as of right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

Dan Leffingwell, president of the OHSAA Board of Directors and superintendent of Noble Local Schools, stressed the need for student-athletes to remain within an academicbased athletic sphere.

“It is important to keep athletic activity moving forward,” Leffingwell said in a release. “And with that, we believe our member schools provide our student-athletes with the safest possible environment to return to play and that our school programs are the best avenue to help students learn lifelong lessons and provide social, emotional and physical benefits that other programs cannot.

“Moving forward allows those students to continue to be engaged with their school coaches and teammates. Membership data also supports this decision.”

Some athletic administrators anticipated an announcement late July 30 after a board meeting was held, then awaited communication again July 31 after the Board of Directors teleconferenced with district personnel.

The remaining 2019-20 winter tournaments and entire 2020 spring sports season were wiped out by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The OHSAA stipulated that if contact sports are not approved for school versus school competition by Sept. 4, fall contact sports and remaining winter and spring sports will move to a condensed schedule that will take place between mid-December and the end of June.

In other words, if football is unable to gain approval for competition by Sept. 4 then all sports across all seasons will be subject to shortened schedules.

Under those circumstances, though, fall noncontact sports would proceed as scheduled.

Cross country and field hockey, currently considered contact sports, are still being discussed with the governor’s office and Ohio Department of Health. The OHSAA maintained an update will be provided if either sport’s designation is changed.

The National Federation of State High School Associations lists cross country, with staggered starts, as a lower risk sport and field hockey under the moderate risk category.

If contact sports are approved for competition, the OHSAA will set requirements related to COVID-19 suggested by the governor’s office to follow for competition. The OHSAA will govern and issue consequences for violation of those policies.

In the event the fall seasons begin, are stopped and then resume, the OHSAA has plans to move to a modified fall sports season.

For now, the decision to participate remains with individual schools. Avon, coming off a 13-win season, will start practice Aug. 1 although a number of its fellow Southwestern Conference schools are subject to Cuyahoga County’s recommendation. North Olmsted already suspended fall sports, while Westlake, Olmsted Falls, Lakewood and Berea-Midpark are also located in Cuyahoga County.

“I feel bad for those kids,” Avon football coach Mike Elder said. “It’s not about how it impacts our schedule, we’ll figure it out. If we’re allowed to play, we’re going to do that.”

Football practices are allowed to begin Aug. 1 with the normal acclimatization period in place. No school versus school scrimmages are permitted, in line with a memo the OHSAA sent July 28. Competition will follow its normal permissible dates and regulations with the plan to being the week of Aug. 24.

The OHSAA noted the date is subject to change and approval of the governor’s office and department of health, and the stipulation that COVID-19 testing will not be required.

Golf is permitted on scrimmage before contests begin Aug. 5. Girls tennis is allowed a scrimmage after practice begins and prior to a team’s first match, with contests slated to being Aug. 7.

Volleyball, recently designated a non-contact sport, is permitted five scrimmages and one preview after practice begins. Competition starts Aug. 21.

Bay, North Olmsted and Fairview, already announced they won’t begin the fall season Aug. 1. Warriors athletic director Joe Dianetti concluded a suspension of athletics was necessary as the school couldn’t continue workouts while meeting guidelines.

“I am trying to avoid the word cancel as much as possible because it is a pretty fluid situation,” Dianetti said. “We are not canceling yet, we’re postponing or delaying. We are letting these situations play out and then see where we are at and see what we can do moving forward if we are able to move forward.”

Ohio set a new singleday high of new cases of COVID-19 July 30, as 1,733 cases were reported to reach a total of 89,626 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

“If we were to delay, our students will find opportunities to compete in sports through non-school programs that may not be focused on safety and are not education-based,” Leffingwell said. “Should data on COVID-19 change and/or the Governor’s Office makes changes to our plan, we have flexibility that would allow us to look at implementing other models for our seasons.”