MAIS announces dates for return to play

A plan is in place to resume school and athletic competition in the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools in just a few weeks.

The way that Starkville Academy and other schools in the MAIS have handled summer workouts and the safety procedures put in place have improved the prospects of going to school and playing sports real soon.

The MAIS announced guidelines for school opening and sports play for the 2020-21 season with a statement released on Monday. The guidelines were formed after reviewing publications of the CDC and the Mississippi Department of Health.

“Some of it may be a little difficult or a little bit extreme, but they keep saying this is the bare minimum,” Starkville Academy Athletic Director and head football coach Chase Nicholson said. “When we get back going, we can always adjust as needed. We’re excited to see that come from them and excited about the optimism from everyone. I talked with another coach who said we might be the ones who set the standard to how to handle this thing in the state, in the region and other places. It looks really promising right now.”

The MAIS suggests the first day of school will be Monday, August 10, while July 31 is scheduled to be the first day athletic teams can play fast pitch softball, volleyball and girls soccer for the 2020-21 school year. The first football play date is August 21.

Nicholson

is proud of the way the Volunteers have gone about their business of executing protective measures and practicing social distancing.

“They have handled it like professionals since the first day,” Nicholson said. “They are looking at football as sort of the standard of how we do everything. They also know if we mess up and don’t do a good job, they may shut the whole thing down. The guys have done a great job of understanding what we are trying to accomplish every morning with checking for fever, asking the questions and social distancing.

“We’re not on top of each other the whole time. If we do seven-on-seven, let’s go, but we’re not piled up on top of each other until it’s time to do it. We still maintain social distancing and that’s really been with the whole athletic department as a whole. It’s all about being smart when you can.”