PREP SPORTS: Football — classified as higher risk — remains in doubt for fall kickoff.

Those looking forward to high school football this fall should not get their hopes up too high. That’s the most notable takeaway from the preliminary plan released by CHSAA’s Resocialization Task Force on Wednesday, which outlines initial specifics on a return to play after the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the basketball championships and the spring sports season. The task force separated the association’s 29 sports into three categories — lower risk, moderate risk, and higher risk — with the recommendation that the state begin exploring the start of lower-risk sports (golf, tennis, skiing, swimming, Unified bowling, sideline cheer) when school begins this fall. So, the normal CHSAA sports calendar could be thrown out the door entirely this year, especially in the case of moderate-risk sports (cross-country, field hockey, gymnastics, softball, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, baseball, track) and higher-risk sports (football, cheer/dance, basketball, hockey and wrestling). At this point, the task force deemed the state is not ready to move forward with sports in either of those categories, although the situation is obviously fluid and CHSAA hopes to play those respective seasons at some point during the 2020-21 academic year. The categorization of the sports was based off the NFHS’ guidelines for re-opening high school activities and athletics. In the case of football, which has already had part of its preseason scrapped, it’s possible Friday night lights could be in the spring of 2021. It’s also possible basketball, facing the potential of a second straight year with no state champions, could be played in the spring as well. And as Commissioner Rhonda BlanfordGreen has acknowledged recently, “nothing is off the table” in terms of competitions being played without fans. By next spring, perhaps the pandemic will quell enough to the point where higher-risk athletics — which the NFHS defines as sports that “involve close, sustained contact between participants, lack of significant protective barriers, and high probability that respiratory particles will be transmitted between participants” — can resume. Until then, it’s wait-and-see time for CHSAA and the prep football season, which is still scheduled to kick off August 27. Blanford-Green, as well as association leadership as a whole, is feeling the vitriol of outspoken parents who want a decision on high school athletics returning as normal come August. As of June 1, CHSAA lifted its moratorium against in-person condition sessions between coaches and student-athletes; during the summer, decisions on athletic workouts are being made at the district level. Blanford-Green, in a stronglyworded column on CHSAANow on Thursday, address that criticism head-on. “You can trust that my decisions aren’t motivated by politics, fear, or threats of liability or legal action,” Blanford-Green wrote. “Nor are they motivated by money. We have lost tremendously during this pandemic, without state basketball championships, spring championships, and refunding of membership participation fees. “We are dedicated and committed to resuming athletics and activities in the 2020-2021 school year responsibly: within the proposed statewide educational models, all viewpoints of health data, state and county guidelines, opinions — including parents, coaches, educators — and in communication with other state associations across the country.” The commissioner added CHSAA would hold future decisions on a return to play “closer to the vest” and assured that the association is “moving with intent towards fully resuming.”