NJSIAA moving ahead with fall sports
Game on ... for now.
The NJSIAA is moving forward with a fall sports plan in which practice will begin in mid-September and competition on Oct. 1, the governing body for high school athletics in the state announced on Thursday.
“We all need to take it day-by-day, but I’m confident that we have the resources in place that if New Jersey continues to stay healthy that we will successfully be able to provide seasons for our student-athletes,” NJSIAA COO Colleen Maguire said in a Zoom meeting with the media.
The plan calls for football, soccer, field hockey, cross country and girls tennis to start practice on Sept. 14, with the first day of competition scheduled for Oct. 1 for soccer, field hockey and cross country and Oct. 2 for football. Girls tennis can begin play on Sept. 28.
The indoor fall sports — girls volleyball and gymnastics — will shift to a new season, being dubbed Season 3, that begins on March 3. The NJSIAA said if circumstances change, and a fall season becomes suspended or untenable, the outdoor fall sports will follow the same calendar as the indoor fall sports.
“We don’t have any documented cases of player-to-player spread from contact sports,” said Dr. Damion Martins, who is heading the NJSIAA’s Medical Advisory Task Force in addition to his role as team physician and Director of Internal Medicine for the Jets. “The virologists and the experts out there really believe that this is really a factor of community spread, so from that standpoint I think we’re in a good place. We have to monitor, we have to see what’s happening out there, but at this point, it appears athletes are at (the) lowest risk for this.
“If you look at this and take away the emotion and the politics and look at the data, kids under the age of 18 are the least likely to get this infection, they are the least likely to get sick from this infection, they are the least likely to die from this infection and they are the least likely to spread this infection. We have to sort of look at this globally and understand that we’re really talking about a very safe population of people that get a tremendous benefit from exercise and sports and staying healthy.”
The NJSIAA has no plans to test studentathletes.
“Testing if you’re going to go into a bubble makes sense, but testing someone everyday and then letting them go home, go to the grocery store, go to the shore doesn’t provide any value,” Martins said. “They may be negative at the time you test them, but they may be positive two hours later. The testing strategy needs to be part of a bigger picture in terms of isolation and protection, but random testing — other than using resources — doesn’t provide a lot of information. What we’re finding, at least in this age group, is that 80% are going to be asymptomatic and the likelihood of spreading when their viral load is so low is minimal.”
Winter sports can begin practice on Dec. 3 and competition on Dec. 21. Maguire said the NJSIAA has been fully focused on summer activities and planning the path forward for the fall, and therefore the winter season, which was cut short of reaching state basketball champions in March, will depend on the status of the school year and indoor limitations.
Maguire said the goal is to maximize the spring season, since it was those athletes who lost an entire season. All dates are subject to change, while schedules will be condensed and limited to local competition, with no state-wide championships.
“Our worst case is to make a multi-sport athlete have to choose,” Maguire said. “That is loud and clear in our task force. We want to protect those opportunities, those kids work hard and they deserve the celebration that is being a multi-sport athlete in today’s club environment. It’s hard to be a three-sport athlete for four years through high school. We want them to be able to proudly say that.”
A handful of schools have already opted out of a fall season, and others could follow suit in the coming weeks. The West Jersey Football League said this week it will wait to release another schedule, and locally, West Windsor Plainsboro and Trenton have informed the league they will not play football.
The NJSIAA said last week that student-athletes whose schools are remote-only or have opted out of in-person class can still compete.
“Once we know the population of teams playing, (football) is a sport we may revert back to a sectional alignment and allow any team that wants to participate an opportunity,” said Maguire, adding that guidelines for locker room use and spectators will be sent to schools next week. “Football is still an outlier from the other sports that it’s going to be a little bit different.”
Maguire said decisions made by neighboring states and college leagues didn’t have an impact on the NJSIAA’s decision.
“They’re talking about interstate travel, moving large groups of college-aged kids and lodging is involved,” she said. “... The travel is the risk where the spread can occur. In high school, I’ll use Gov. Murphy’s line, ‘we’re staying within the four walls of New Jersey.’ Right Now, New Jersey is healthy. Community spread is the biggest concern with the transmission. You’re staying local, you’re going to play less games, you’re not traveling as far and there certainly is not going to be any state-wide competition and statewide championships.”