Activities association cancels rest of 2019-20 athletic calendar
Move follows state’s decision to close schools over pandemic concerns
The news that many had anticipated finally became reality Friday afternoon when the New Mexico Activities Association’s board of directors unanimously voted to cancel the remainder of the 2019-20 athletic calendar.
The board convened an emergency teleconference about 90 minutes after the state’s Public Education Department announced it was halting the rest of the school year because of the coronavirus pandemic. It voted 13-0 to call off all spring sports effective immediately and to suspend any summer activities until conditions allow people to again gather in large groups.
The ruling eliminates baseball, softball, tennis, golf, and track and field from the sports calendar, meaning the earliest anyone will likely see organized high school events is late August.
The ruling leaves this summer’s annual North-South All-Star events, organized by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association, in jeopardy.
“I do appreciate the NMAA’s work in all of this,” said board President T.J. Parks, superintendent of Hobbs Municipal Schools. “I know this isn’t the way all of us wanted to turn out. We are all advocates for children throughout the state of New Mexico but we are in very trying times, and I think we’ve got to make the health priority for our students in our state.”
NMAA Executive Director Sally Marquez said the board will reconvene on or about May 1 to discuss plans for sanctioned summer activities, as well as eligibility of student-athletes in fall sports based upon the grading system in the spring semester.
It all comes on the heels of a whirlwind month that started with the NMAA taking drastic measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the state basketball tournament. On March 11, Marquez announced the board had approved a measure to prohibit fans from attending the tournament for the final three days.
Just days later, the NMAA suspended the start of the spring sports calendar, which included the state spirit championships that would have been held this Friday and Saturday in The Pit.
“Our first practice was also our last,” St. Michael’s girls golf coach Robin Martinez said. “We were having nine girls show up regularly, and the first day we got out there is when they told everyone to stop.”
The basketball and spirit competitions are two of largest sources of revenue for the NMAA, a nonprofit organization that governs the state’s high school sports and activities. The final three days of the basketball tournament were played with no fans in The Pit and Rio Rancho’s Santa Ana
Star Center.
The cancellation of spring sports ends a number of interesting storylines for local athletes and teams.
Among the storylines: A push for a third state title for St. Michael’s golfer Carisa Padilla, the defense of
Las Vegas Robertson’s baseball championship and Lady Cardinals tennis star Lauren Fulgenzi’s title. Also lost were the defenses of title in track and field, such as St. Michael’s boys in 3A and several returning champions in individual disciplines.