MIAA Recommendations A Path Back To Sports

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The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association provided recommendations for the fall sports season at the end of August, helping to give some guidance on the path toward playing high school sports during the 2020-21 school year. 

Most notable of the takeaways from these recommendations are a new suggested start date for fall sports – September 18 – along with the implementation of a fourth “floating season” in addition to the traditional fall, winter and spring seasons. 

While the announcement has helped local schools gain more clarity when it comes to planning for high school sports this year, there are a number of other factors that need to be considered, including the fact that Manchester Essex Regional High School has elected to start the year with remote learning due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.  With students attending classes online from their homes, would they be expected to attend practices and games in the fall, and how might that work?  MERHS Athletic Director Jordan Edgett and school administrators are waiting on more information before making a decision on how the fall will play out. 

“A decision for fall athletics has not been made,” says Edgett. “We are continuing to meet at the district and league level to discuss the recent MIAA and DESE guidelines about fall sports. We are awaiting further guidelines from the MIAA Sports Committees and MIAA Sports Medicine Committee before any decisions are made. 

At Tuesday’s MERSD School Committee meeting, Manchester resident Phil Furse read a letter signed by 181 residents of Essex and Manchester in support of MIAA’s recommendation and of students right to opt into school sports.  He said the psychological benefits of sports is essential, and warned that as the school year progresses and the days grow shorter students will be more vulnerable to depression and anxiety.  Furse said sports participation is shown to stem these, and pressed the Committee not to limit participation. 

If MERHS decides to adopt the recommendations, the fall season (or “Fall I”) would run Sept. 18-Nov. 20, winter sports would be played Nov. 30-Feb. 21, the floating season (or “Fall II”) would run Feb. 22-April 25 and the spring season would be played April 26-July 3. 

The floating season would allow for what the MIAA deems “high risk sports” such as football and cheering to be still be played during the current school year instead of outright cancelling the sports since they can’t be played in the fall. It also provides an option for MERHS to move other fall sports if it’s determined that the Sept. 18 start date doesn’t make sense for other fall sports such as cross country, soccer and field hockey. 

Besides the weather-related challenges, this season will be similar in structure to the other seasons this school year,” says Edgett. We would also have the option to move winter sports into this floating season if we deem them unsafe to play starting in November. 

While the MIAA decision addresses some key items, there are still more the main governing body for high school sports still needs to address, including what options are available if a school completely cancels the Fall I season, and if students would be allowed to participate in all four seasons. 

Another key factor when it comes to deciding what to do about the Fall I season is the fact that it would require approval from the School Committee. 

“There are lots of moving parts,” says Edgett. “For schools that are remote, all decisions must be approved by the School Committee. 

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