In July, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association pushed the start of its fall sports season back from August 24 to September 21 in response to the continuing pandemic. While New York governor Andrew Cuomo last week announced that school districts can reopen for in-person classes next month, nothing further has been decided about the start of fall sports.
“No final decision made on interscholastic athletics,” tweeted athletic association director Robert Zayas on August 7 moments after Cuomo’s announcement. His organization “looks forward to continuing our discussions with state officials and advocating for the safe return of high-school sports. Stay safe. Stay positive.”
School districts have been given the autonomy to craft their own reopening plans and decide themselves whether to reopen their doors for in-person study or pick up where the 2019-20 school year left off with remote learning. But high-school athletics by their very nature intertwine school districts. Fall sports schedules in the Mid-Hudson Athletic Association (MHAL) and Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) not only see games played between neighboring districts, but also sometimes mix with schools from other regions and even nearby states.
Section IX, which counts among its member districts those in Ulster County, formed a task force to shape how sports will look when they’re able to restart. The task force, which officially met for the first time on June 10, is comprised of school district superintendents, athletic directors, high-school administrators, an athletic trainer, a district transportation director, and state representatives. The task force is at least partly informed by guidelines established by a state federation of high schools, which in May of this year categorized different sports as lower risk, moderate risk and higher risk. Also considered by the task force was a survey of roughly 6000 athletic directors, district administrators, athletic trainers and coaches.
Numerous options that might be considered impractical or even bizarre under normal circumstances were at least under discussion, including postponing fall sports until spring. Flipping fall and spring sports was also a distant possibility earlier in the summer, given there are fewer sports in the moderate and higher risk category played in the latter than the former.
Lower-risk sports, those the schools defines as possible with social-distancing rules or performed by individual athletes with no sharing of equipment or the ability to clean equipment between use by competitors, include cross-country and individual running events, plus individual swimming events.
Moderate-risk sports which “involve close, sustained contact, but with protective equipment in place that may reduce the likelihood of respiratory particle transmission between participants,” include basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, tennis, field hockey, swimming relays and girls lacrosse.
Higher-risk sports which “involve close, sustained contact between participants, lack of significant protective barriers, and high probability that respiratory particles will be transmitted between participants” include football, wrestling, boys’ lacrosse, competitive cheer and dance.
According to early task force discussions, delaying the fall season outright, flipping fall and spring, or other configurations could provide them enough time to out greater protections to be in place, providing some semblance of normalcy.
Since the July decision to move the potential start date of the fall sports season to September 21, the task force has narrowed its options to an abbreviated fall season and full winter and spring seasons or the reduction of the sports seasons to ten weeks, with winter beginning on January 4, followed by fall sports and finally spring. The second option includes a two-week overlap between seasons. Neither option would include playoffs.
“State championships, along with all other forms of postseason competition, are most likely out of both of these scenarios,” said Rich Silverstein, athletic director in the Kingston school system and a member of the Section IX task force. “Our goal as athletic directors is to give our athletes and coaches an opportunity to compete in a safe environment, with some quality of a season without the concerns of state championships and postseason.”
“The goal is to have students play,” said Dominic Zarrella, athletic director for the Saugerties school district and also a task-force member. Zarrella added that the task force was also juggling other factors as well, including whether to host all levels of athletics or just varsity, how many students will be allowed on buses, what to do in case of officials opting out over safety concerns, and how these plans might be impacted by school districts.
“Dr. [Paul[ Padalino [Kingston superintendent] at this point is allowing us to start sports on September 21, pending our local health department and allowing schools to start our fall season,” said Silverstein. “We have been working hard at making plans to start safely, and my specific guidelines to our coaches, athletes and parents will be released once we are given the green light to start on September 21 …. Safety is our number-one priority, and I have an athletic re-entry team of professionals here in the district I have been consulting with to make sure I have thought all of the concerns through carefully.”
Districts like Saugerties are following a similarly measured approach, preparing for any scenario. “Saugerties is well positioned to hit the ground running once a decision is made,” said Zarrella. “All of our coaches are in place and just need board of education approval. In addition, we have set up a way to register athletes virtually. A lot of planning has gone into this.”
Many fall sports hold informal warm-ups and practices ahead of the official start of the season, though the pandemic has forced coaches to improvise. “Some of the coaches are conducting virtual training,” said Zarrella. “We are still not allowed to do anything in person.”
Zarrella doesn’t see the fall season being allowed to start on September 21, though upcoming meetings of the task force and all of Section IX may bring the situation into greater focus.
“Hopefully we will have some definitive answers then,” said Zarrella.
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