CANTON — After a delay of seven months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the high school varsity football, volleyball, girls swimming and cheerleading seasons for Section 10 are cleared for take-off starting today.
“At this point, we have gotten verbal commitments from all our schools but we are waiting for board of education approval from two districts,” said Section 10 Athletics Executive Director Carl Normandin last week. “Everyone will be able to start practicing for the Fall Sports II season on March 22nd. We might be able to schedule some volleyball and swimming before we go into spring break but most of the games are more than likely going to start after the break, which runs from April 2nd to the 9th.”
“All the schools can schedule games and scrimmages until April 24th but with spring sports scheduled to start April 19th, some are choosing to finish by April 18th to avoid any overlap,” he added.
Traditionally scheduled to run from late August to early November, football, volleyball and competitive cheerleading were listed as high-risk sports in the the New York State Public High School Athletic Association guidelines for the return of scholastic sports for the 2020-21 school year after they were halted due to the COVID-19 crisis in mid-March of 2020.
Girls swimming is considered a low-to-moderate risk sport and was eligible to stage a 2020 last fall but due to non-COVID related conflicts at several school district pools, the section opted to move the season into the Fall Sports II season, which was announced by the state in mid-September and origially slated to run from March 1 to mid-April.
As was the case with the current winter sports season, there will be no Northern Athletic Conference regular season races and no Section 10 playoffs or championships. According to Normandin, the girls volleyball and swimming programs and cheerleading teams will require a minimum of six practices before being allowed to compete against other squads while football requires at least 10 days.
“Just like the winter season, there will be none of the usual divisions for any of the sports in the Fall II season,” Normandin said. “The schedules are based more on level of participation and region. We still want to limit transportation time to 35-40 minutes.”
All the usual football programs are expected to participate this spring, including Canton, Gouverneur, Malone, Massena, OFA, Potsdam and St. Lawrence Central. Depending on when each school decides to end the Fall II season, teams are likely going to be able to hold one scrimmage and play one or two games.
For girls volleyball, Normandin said that as of Wednesday, 11 schools were confirmed as participants. One grouping would consist of Massena, Madrid-Waddington, Potsdam, OFA, Edwards-Knox and Canton while the other includes all the Franklin County teams — Brushton-Moira, Chateaugay, Franklin Academy, Salmon River and Tupper Lake, along with Gouverneur and Clifton-Fine.
“We’re looking at probably have a total of six matches for each school for volleyball,” Normandin said.
As far as girls swimming, the eight schools fielding teams include Canton, Malone, Gouverneur, Massena, OFA, Potsdam, Salmon River and St. Lawrence Central, while Edwards-Knox has dropped the program for a second straight school year. All the swim meets will be virtual for the Fall II season, meaning teams will compete on their own at their own pools and then exchange the results online with their scheduled opponent to determine a winner.
The Potsdam Central swim team has always used the pool at Clarkson University for practices and home meets but with the college campus off-limits due to COVID restrictions, the Sandstoners are going to use the newly renovated facility at the St. Lawrence Central school district.
While cheerleading teams can begin practicing today, Normandin said that the exact details for where, when and how competitions will be arranged are still being worked out.
“At this point, we are looking at doing something at two different sites the first and second weeks of April,” he said.
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