TSSAA board to discuss football, girls soccer
The TSSAA has added the discussion of contingency plans for football and girls soccer to its meeting agenda for Wednesday.
The Board of Control also will discuss regulations put together by the staff and Gov. Bill Lee's office for all fall sports in regards to precautions for participation during the coronavirus pandemic.
The meeting originally was planned to discuss reclassification, which is still on the agenda.
TSSAA Executive Director Bernard Childress said the move to add discussions about the contingency plans had to do more with both football (in full pads) and girls soccer, which is regularly scheduled to begin practice July 27.
The regular season for football was set to begin Aug. 21, while the regular season for girls soccer was set to begin Aug. 17. But Lee extended an emergency order through Aug. 29 that limits contact sports for high schools, among other things.
The TSSAA has been working with the governor's office in hopes of being able to start the football and girls soccer seasons on time.
“After our meeting with the governor's office, and them still researching the data, looking at everything they have to look at, and with the numbers being so fluid right now, we felt we would get no decision (from the governor's office) this week,” Childress said. “With practice starting Monday, we felt we needed to have a specific direction we need to go in, in case we don't get the decision from them anytime soon.”
The meeting will be at 1 p.m. at the lecture hall at Siegel High School with all physical distancing requirements enforced. According to a TSSAA news release, “No one will be allowed to enter the facility without wearing a mask. Maintaining the minimum 6-foot distance and wearing a mask at all times will be mandatory.”
The football contingency plans included options of:
● A nine-game regular season, with only the region champion reaching the playoffs;
● An eight-game regular season, with the top two teams from each region reaching the playoffs;
● A seven-game regular season, with a full playoff schedule.
While those three original contingency plans will be discussed, a new fourth option also will be on the table. That plan was included in a video sent in an email to coaches statewide Monday.
The fourth option is a hybrid model that allows the TSSAA to have a weekby-week road map.
The plan accounts for the possibility that teams will not be able to begin contact practices on the date that they are scheduled to happen.
Teams must complete an acclimation period and two weeks of practice prior to any competition. As the calendar progresses, region games will be moved to a later date and replace open dates or nonregion games as necessary.
For example, if contact practice doesn't begin Aug. 3, five region games would be affected in Week 1 and pushed back to Weeks 7-10, depending on open dates or nonregion games.
If contact practice doesn't begin Aug. 10, there would be 13 games affected in Week 2.
The girls soccer contingency plans included an option to push the playoffs back two weeks and another to begin the playoffs at the scheduled time, meaning a shorter regular season. The season would start in September in both cases.
Childress: TSSAA and governor’s office ‘on the same page’
The TSSAA Board of Control was originally expected to vote on contingency plans during a July 8 meeting, but that was tabled because of ongoing discussions with the governor's office.
Coaches, players and fans have been awaiting word about whether football and girls soccer will start on time or what delays to expect.
Some have voiced their opinions on social media, but that had no effect on the TSSAA'S decision, Childress said.
“Not one bit,” Childress said. “They can say whatever they want. We'll continue to make the best decisions for young people. What they say on Twitter has no effect.”
He also said not to read into the TSSAA adding the discussion of contingency plans as a “bad sign.”
“We are just looking at dates that we need to make sure we have everything in place,” Childress said.
“The governor's office knows exactly what we're going to present, and they're in total agreement.
“We felt like we needed to go ahead and adopt a contingency plan. We'll have something in place and allow them to do what they need to do to research the data. When they make their decision, we'll go from there.
“The TSSAA and the governor's office are on the same page.”
Michael Odom contributed to this report.