Local schools set new rules for winter sports season
Practices officially start next Monday
In less than a week, the fun begins again.
Of course, it will take a quick holiday break and then the real sporting festivities get underway for high school athletes across the state.
The MIAA’s start date for the COVID-19 delayed winter season is next Monday, with tryouts and practices beginning for basketball, hockey, gymnastics, skiing, and swimming and dive teams across the commonwealth. Indoor track and field has been moved to Spring II, with wrestling being moved all the way to the actual spring season.
As we ready for the winter sports season to begin, here’s a quick reminder on some of the modifications and guidelines approved by the MIAA.
There will be no MIAA sectional or state tournaments. Masks will be worn by all, save for gymnasts and swimmers competing in their events. Social distancing guidelines will be enforced for those attending contests.
Then there are the sport-specific rules. Nothing quite as game-altering as field hockey moving to 7 vs.7 or soccer outlawing heading the ball in the fall, but things will be different in winter sports.
In basketball, varsity roster sizes will be bumped from 12 players to 15 and halftime will be non-existent as the MIAA has done away with locker room use for the season. Jump balls to start a game are gone; instead, a coin toss will determine possession, with a game starting with an inbounds pass. All plays beginning with a pass from the baseline are gone, with inbounds plays coming from the foul line extended.
Speaking of the charity stripe, rebounders will be limited to four total to prevent clustering of players. And end-of-game fouls will see a player or team representative alerting officials of their intentions, with light contact needed to secure a call.
Hockey will see only the centermen allowed in close proximity for a face-off, with other players remaining six feet from one another on a draw. And spacing concerns won’t be limited to the action on the ice; schools will need to work with their home rinks to find ways to space players out on benches and auxiliary
penalty boxes will be used should more than one player from a team end up being called for an infraction.
Checking will still be allowed, though only one player from each team can engage in a physical altercation along the boards.
Ski teams, both alpine and Nordic, will be asked to arrive at competition sites ready to go. In Nordic skiing, waves of competitors will be sent out in three-minute intervals.
Dual meets are the call for swimming
and diving, with virtual meets a possibility for teams competing no more than a day apart from each other.
Let the modified fun begin.
Farewell to Cushing football
Cushing Academy announced it was doing away with its football program on Monday, stating in a release that “after a valiant effort to rebuild” the program, the school “made the difficult decision to discontinue offering football permanently.”
A source pointed to the sport being slowed by the pandemic and shrinking roster numbers as key factors in the decision.
School officials had no additional comments on the decision Monday.