PIAA votes to delay start of fall sports by two weeks
One day after Gov. Tom Wolf recommended that recreational and interscholastic sports in the state be postponed until Jan. 1 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association board of directors decided to delay the start of high school sports by two weeks.
The new start date means the heat acclimatization period for football, which was scheduled to begin Monday, will now begin Aug. 24. Any sport, such as golf, that had matches or games scheduled for the week of Aug. 17 will have them pushed back to the week of Aug. 24 to allow for a few days of organized practices prior to competition. The first week of the regular season for football is still on track to begin Sept. 10.
Over these next two weeks, the PIAA board will attempt “to seek a dialogue with the administration, the legislation and all athletic stakeholders to obtain clarification on the possibility of safely conducting athletic activities in conjunction with the start of the school year,” according to a statement by the organization released Friday.
“We’re going to reach out to the governor’s office and see if we can meet with either his staff or himself to see if we can have some discussion about what was stated [Thursday],” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said. “We were as surprised as anybody else.”
Mr. Wolf made his initial comment regarding Pennsylvania sports in the final minute of a news conference Thursday updating residents on the COVID-19
pandemic, his response coming after a reporter asked about the guidance for spectators in high school sports this fall.
“The guidance is we ought to avoid any congregate settings,” Mr. Wolf said Thursday morning. “That means anything that brings people together is going to help that virus get us. We ought to do everything we can to defeat that virus. Anytime we get together for any reason, that’s a problem, because it makes it easier for that virus to spread.
“So the guidance from us, the recommendation, is that we don’t do any sports until Jan. 1.”
That prompted the PIAA board to call an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon. No votes were taken on what the PIAA would do in response to the new recommendations, but the decision was made to meet again Friday. According to Mr. Lombardi, the PIAA board had no knowledge of Mr. Wolf’s stance until his comments.
“It was a very, very difficult day, especially when there was no prior warning of any announcement,” Mr. Lombardi said. “I think the surprise of it caught people off guard, and also that there was nothing, no follow-up after it, added to the frustration.”
Later on Thursday, the Pennsylvania departments of health and education further explained Mr. Wolf’s comment and issued the official recommendation.
“The administration is providing this strong recommendation and not an order or mandate,” the departments’ statement said. “As with deciding whether students should return to in-person classes, remote learning or a blend of the two this fall, school administrators and locally elected school boards should make decisions on sports.”
Although many feared the PIAA was preparing to delay the start of fall sports Friday until the end of the year — if not cancel them altogether for 2020-21 — Mr. Lombardi said the PIAA still hopes to complete its fall, winter and spring sports seasons in their typical order. He added that the impetus of the PIAA’s request to speak with the governor’s office is to ask Mr. Wolf to reconsider his position.
“We certainly want support of the administration, but coming out with a general statement … I don’t see how golf, tennis and cross country, that are also being carried out in every community in public and private facilities throughout the commonwealth — they’re going off safely,” Mr. Lombardi said. “Why don’t we get the same opportunity?”
Mars athletic director Scott Heinauer shared similar frustrations regarding the abrupt nature of Mr. Wolf’s comments.
“It was like he just walked away,” Mr. Heinauer said. “All these kids across Pennsylvania deserve more than that. How about explaining yourself and the decision? I’m not saying people would be happy about it, but tell us a little more. Why does it have to be Jan. 1? Why the decision? They didn’t even give anybody a warning about this.”
Thomas Jefferson athletic director and football coach Bill Cherpak said he hoped the PIAA would do more than simply throw its hands up in defeat after hearing Mr. Wolf’s comments. Like many others in his position, he was happy to hear there’s still hope for a fall season.
“As leaders, our job is to find a way to get things done. And I appreciate the PIAA not just mailing it in,” he said. “You don’t just quit something. You find a way to get it done, and that’s what we need to do.”
For Belle Vernon athletic director and football coach Matt Humbert, the PIAA’s announcement came as a welcome surprise after all the speculation and uncertainty of Thursday. On top of that, he views the extra two weeks of offseason conditioning and strength training as an added bonus for his players.
“We get a little breathing room,” Mr. Humbert said. “There is some glimmer of hope, and they’re going to try to see if they can exhaust every avenue possible to see if we can let this go off.”
The most recent National Federation of State High
School Association participation figures showed 119,000 boys and girls played fall sports in Pennsylvania in the 2018-19 school year. That doesn’t count cheerleaders and band members.
While many athletes, coaches and athletic directors were surely pleased to hear there is still hope for a fall sports season, some still viewed the PIAA’s announcement as simply delaying the inevitable. Mr. Lombardi, though, insisted that’s not the case, noting that the board barely had a day to potentially make a decision that could impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of student-athletes.
“I don’t think the board is kicking the can down the road at all. We’re trying to get as much information as possible,” Mr. Lombardi said. “As an athletic association, we’re giving our best efforts to advocate for our student-athletes and their families and their communities.”
The PIAA voted to move forward with fall sports as planned at a meeting last week, leaving it up to the 12 individual school districts and their member schools to decide whether or not to delay the start of sports. But with the new recommendations coming from Mr. Wolf’s office on Thursday, the PIAA board decided to “hit the pause button.”
“I applaud the board in trying to hit pause and trying to give us any type of dialogue that we could create to possibly see what we could get done for our member schools,” Mr. Lombardi said.
Thursday, officials with Pittsburgh Public Schools said they are leaning toward postponing fall sports and marching band in the wake of Mr. Wolf’s recommendation. The board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation at its Aug. 26 meeting. The WPIAL, which comprises more than 100 schools in Western Pennsylvania, declined comment Friday as the organization sought to gather more information but scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Monday at the WPIAL offices in Green Tree.