NYSPHSAA DELAYS START OF WINTER SPORTS TWO WEEKS (2020-08-31)
Tioga County Sports Report
LATHAM, N.Y. — The start of the winter sports season has been delayed two weeks, from Nov.16 to Nov. 30, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association announced today.
NYSPHSAA officers voted to postpone the start of winter sports to give schools and sections more time to complete the fall season.
Paul Harrica, NYSPHSAA President and Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force, said in a news release that the task force "felt it was most appropriate to delay the start of the winter sports season by two weeks to afford sections and schools additional time to play the fall sports seasons before the winter seasons began."
The officers also approved the revision of the number of required practices for fall sport to 12 practices for football and 10 for all other fall sports.Â
They also voted to waive the seven consecutive day rule beginning Oct. 12, which prohibits teams from practicing or playing every day of the week.
Due to regional differences, various schools and areas are expected to be impacted differently by the COVID-19 pandemic. If the fall sports seasons are interrupted or impacted by the COVID-19 crisis (i.e. state official guidance, school closings, etc.), then a condensed seasons plan could still be implemented. That would be determined at the discretion of the NYSPHSAA officers with information made available to them.
Last week, Nassau County (Section VIII) on Long Island announced it will postpone all sports until 2021. The other Long Island county, Suffolk County (Section XI) met the same day, but decided to go ahead with the Sept. 21 start date.
On Aug. 24, Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave the approval for fall sports to begin on Sept. 21. However, he prohibited the high-risk fall sports (football and volleyball) from having any games or contests until authorization is given by state officials on or before Dec. 31.
Low- and moderate-risk sports will only play games in their league and / or section until Oct. 19.
