[ad_1]
High school winter sports, which are slated to begin in two weeks in New Jersey, will not have games until 2021, likely in response to growing concerns about the surge in COVID-19 cases.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the state’s governing body for high school sports, started off with its initial plans for the winter sports season, identified this year as “season 2,” as it has been. described in the NJSIAA’s plan that was released in the summer of Thursday when it announced the wholesale changes to its winter plans in a note to member schools.
Biggest Changes: The wrestling season will move to Season 3 for a March start and no season 2 sport will have NJSIAA sponsored postseason tournaments.
Here’s what season 2 and winter sports look like now:
- The wrestling will take place in Season 3 – a time that was previously reserved for volleyball and girls’ gymnastics, indoor fall sports that could not be played in October and November. This season will start March 1 for practice, March 16 for games and end on April 24, dates modified from the original plans. There was no mention in the memo of the individual wrestling postseason. Last week, NJ Advance Media offered to move wrestling to Season 3 with an individual outdoor tournament in April.
- Basketball, fencing and bowling will now begin with practice on January 11, games on January 26, and the playoffs will end on March 6.
- Ice hockey, the only sport kicking off before 2021, will open practice on December 14 and games on January 4. The hockey season playoffs will end on February 16.
- Indoor swimming and track, now in Season 2A, will begin with practice on February 1, competitions on February 16, and the playoffs will end on March 27.
- There will be no NJSIAA sponsored playoffs for Season 2 or 2A sports, including basketball and ice hockey. Post-season matches in these sports can be organized locally through leagues and conferences.
- Teams will be limited during Season 2, Season 2A and Season 3 to three matches / competitions per week.
- Multi-team, multi-match and invitational events are prohibited in basketball and fencing. Events are currently limited to two-team wrestling, swimming, indoor track and gymnastics, but that measure is subject to change, the memo said.
These changes, which the NJSIAA made in consultation with local health officials and Governor Phil Murphy, are not subject to change.
“NJSIAA will continue to consult with DOH to determine if multi-team or multi-match events will be permitted; however, we anticipate that decisions on expanding the scope of participants and / or teams will not be made until the start of the season, ”the memo reads.
Colleen Maguire, the director of operations for the NJSIAA, announced at the association’s executive committee meeting in November that a decision on the winter sports season would be made by November 20. Open questions on how to move sports forward in high school – especially now, amid a second wave of COVID-19 in New Jersey and more restrictive crackdowns – had focused on the use of facilities third parties (ice hockey, bowling, swimming) and on how schools, especially smaller ones, could handle multiple indoor sports moved to any season, Maguire said.
In what is becoming a hallmark of his tenure, Maguire also released a video Thursday, addressed specifically to student-athletes, explaining that more than 80,000 of them competed in the fall. She urged them to focus on what they were able to do, rather than what they were not, and she urged them all – especially the elderly – to thank the many people who she, were responsible for making the fall. She also detailed much of what was in the release in a discussion of Season 2 and stressed the importance of anti-COVID-19 measures, such as wearing a mask, during the Thanksgiving break.
A decision on spring dates will be announced by Dec. 11, the memo said, and the season is slated to extend through June.
Here is the full memo posted by the NJSIAA (use this link if accessing via Twitter or Facebook).
Brian Deakyne can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @BrianDeakyne.
Thank you for relying on us to provide journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
[ad_2]
Source link