OSWEGO, NY — On Friday, September 4th, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association released a lengthy document containing plans and guidelines for the 2020-21 sports season. The Return to Interscholastic Athletics resource was put together by staff of the association to give member schools aid on how sports should be handled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NYSPHSAA worded with the New York State Department of Health to classify sports into three different categories, Low Risk, Moderate Risk, and High Risk. Each fall sport received a category based on the ability to social distance and the ability to avoid touching shared experiment during play.
With the prior announcement that the fall sports season would begin on September 21st, school districts now know what sports will be permitted to compete compared to just practicing. The Low and Moderate Risk sports of Cross-Country, Field Hockey, Golf, Gymnastics, Soccer, Girls Swimming & Diving, Girls Tennis will be permitted to begin play inside their section or league until October 19th. After that date, schools will be allowed to compete beyond their section. The High Risk sports of Cheerleading, Football, and Volleyball will be permitted to practice. However, teams will not be able to compete against other schools till approved by the NYSDOH, or after December 31st. There will be no regional/state championships for the fall sports season.
A few weeks prior, the NYSPHSAA announced that the Winter sports season will be pushed back to November 30th, previously November 16th. This change gave the fall sports season two extra weeks to account for the push back of that season. March 15th is now the official start date for Spring Sports. Both winter and spring still have State Championships scheduled, which may be subject to change.
The association has also determined that school districts can determine if junior varsity or modified teams will be allowed to participate in the 2020-21 season. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage on the ever-evolving high school sports situation.
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