The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association unanimously approved modifications for several sports — including football — to compete during a previously decided upon Fall Sports II season.
The additional season, which the board decided on August, is set to run from Feb. 22 to April 25, 2021.
“We made adjustments in the fall and had a successful first season,” MIAA president Jeffrey Granatino said. “We made additional modifications for the winter and our student-athletes have been actively engaged since December.
“Now we are hopeful that with the guidance from the Governor’s office and of the EEA, along with the work of our various committees that we will be able to have a safe and successful Fall II season.”
Football, unified basketball and cheerleading were originally moved to the Fall Sports II season. During Friday’s meeting, the board unanimously approved the playing of both football and unified basketball, noting that cheerleading is under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts School Administrators’ Association (MSAA).
Sports from other seasons with teams that could not or did not compete in their normally scheduled time — such as field hockey, soccer, volleyball and indoor track and field — were also unanimously approved for play during the additional season.
None of the sports competing during the Fall Sports II season will have a sponsored championship, as was unanimously approved and recommended by the Tournament Management Committee on Jan. 20. And, just as they have in previous seasons, the Board of Directors will encourage schools to create schedules that are within leagues or geographic regions that limit opponents.
While there were a few discussions about the modifications during the 90-minute meeting, the bulk of the discussion revolved around football and the 15-day football practice requirement for all players. Some members of the board expressed concern that the weather would negatively impact a team’s ability to get 15 practice days in, especially with EEA guidelines which directly specify that no football or rugby activities can take place indoors.
Football’s 15-day practice requirement is written into the MIAA Handbook. While Marblehead principal Daniel Bauer asked if the word “practice” could be changed to “workouts,” allowing conditioning to count toward the total number of practices, the committee went forward with the language already in place.
Richard Pearson noted in the conversation that the 15-day practice requirement has to do with the health and safety of the students.
Thomas Holdgate, the athletic director at Duxbury and the co-chair of the COVID-19 Task Force said that while he understood it may take some teams longer to get 15 practices in than others, the focus is on getting athletes out to play football.
“We may have some hiccups to do it,” Holdgate said. “If it means you don’t get to play until the fourth week because you didn’t get your practices in? I think the kids will just be excited to get to play.”
Granatino added that the situation wasn’t ideal but it was doable, while Carver principal and board member Mike Schultz pointed out that teams have to deal with setbacks due to the weather each spring.
Overall, football did not have many changes within its modifications, the full list of which can be found here. While various MIAA committees had lengthy back-and-forth conversations about the sport, it ultimately came down to one thing.
The sport is centered around tackling.
“It all came back to the fact that there’s extensive contact involved in the game for both sides throughout the entire game,” Pearson said. “There is just going to be contact during tackle football.”
The MIAA Board of Directors will meet in March to vote on modifications for the spring season.
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