Florida task force wrestles COVID comeback
South Florida administrators expressed fear that schools from Broward, MiamiDade and Palm Beach could be left behind, but a newly formed task force heard Tuesday that Florida’s high school sports governing body still plans for football teams and others in fall sports to start playing games in mid-August.
“The governor [Ron DeSantis] and commissioner of education [Richard Corcoran] are very optimistic about schools opening as scheduled in the fall,” said George Tomyn, executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association. “I’m also remaining optimistic. At this moment in time, our staff is counting on a fall sports schedule that has already been published.”
The FHSAA lists Monday, July 27, just more than a month away, as the start date for practices. Preseason play is on its calendar for Aug. 12-15, with regular season openers for football and other fall sports pegged for the week of Aug. 20.
Tomyn’s remarks, which came in the early stages of the first videoconference meeting for the FHSAA Fall Sports Task
Force, are consistent with what he has said since the association canceled spring sports playoffs on April 20 due to the coronavirus outbreak. But the FHSAA’s traditional time frame may be way off target for some South Florida teams.
“Here in Miami-Dade, just as in Broward and Palm Beach, we’re still not able to get into our buildings,” said Hialeah Gardens athletic director Carlos Ochoa. “It looks very unlikely we’ll be able to start on time.”
Many schools across the state that were shut down in mid-March due to COVID-19 reopened campuses this month for workouts with restrictions that include social distancing and sanitation measures. But that is not yet an option for schools in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas. Task force members from those counties said they are at a disadvantage.