NJSIAA pushes back start of HS fall sports, announces plan for shortened postseason - NJ.com

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The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) plans to have high school sports played in the fall, but the start will be pushed back a month and the postseason will be smaller and localized, the organization announced on Friday.

The fall season was originally set to start in the beginning of September, but the NJSIAA now has a plan to have regular season games kick off at the end of September and beginning of October, depending on the sport.

Competition for girls tennis will start on Sept. 28, while all other sports except football will start on Oct. 1 The football season will kick off a day later on Oct. 2.

Under the current plan developed by the NJSIAA Sports Advisory Task Force - a group composed of athletic directors from across the state - official practices for all fall sports will start on Sept. 14.

“High school sports are school-based, so we need to first ensure all is in order with the opening of our schools,” said Colleen Maguire, NJSIAA chief operating officer. “After that, we can begin playing sports. To be clear, our goal is to return to play – while making sure that health, safety, emotional well-being, and academics come first. We have a different model than some other types of programs that are far smaller in scale and operate independently. We have a duty to ensure that New Jersey’s schools and their more than 1.5 million students and teachers, including 283,000 high school student-athletes, can first return to school and their academics, and then participate in extracurricular activities like sports.”

Summer workouts as a part of the previously-announced Phase 1, with limited contact and small groups, will still be allowed to open this Monday, July 13. Following summer workouts - also known as the “summer recess period” - there will be a two-week hiatus from Aug. 29 through Sept. 13, during which only virtual meetings will be permitted, and only related to in-season sports.

Indoor sports, including volleyball and gymnastics, will be following the same guidelines as outdoor sports for now. The NJSIAA said there is no difference in the thought process, but that modifications will be made if necessary.

"The reason we're waiting until the school year opens is if the student-athletes are in-person in school then we have to work hard to try to provide athletic opportunities," said Maguire. "If they're in-person for school, there's a good chance they can be in-person for volleyball, which is not listed as a high-contact, high-risk sport. The same pertains to gymnastics."

The NJSIAA also made it clear that things could still change for all fall sports, that the task force has developed alternative models and the state could pivot to one of those, if warranted. The NJSIAA hasn't made the other models public.

Any decision to move to an alternate model would be made no later than Aug. 28, the last day of the summer recess.

“What’s good about this now is schools can start to plan for fall athletics, but it allows the NJSIAA time to first develop backup models and contingency plans for many scenarios, we envision, that could be occurring for the start of the school year or during the school year,” said Maguire said on Friday during a Zoom call. “It allows us the summer to monitor what exactly the health circumstances are going to be and are there going to be any changes to the return-to-school guidelines. As we all know in today’s environment, we don’t know what to expect next week and we certainly don’t know what to expect in September.”

The regular season will end on Oct. 23 for girls tennis, Nov. 7 for football and Nov. 12 for all other fall sports. Limited postseason play will run from Oct. 24 through Oct. 31 for girls tennis, and Nov. 13 through Nov. 22 for all other sports.

That format would allow two weekends for football postseason play. Teams who opt out of postseason play could schedule regular-season games those weeks.

The NJSIAA is deemphasizing postseason competition and specifically didn’t use the word “playoffs” in its statement The official format of the postseason has not been decided yet, however.

The NJSIAA is still looking for input on how to find a creative way to provide meaningful games at the end of the year, and Maguire admitted that running a traditional sectional tournament "just isn't in the cards this year."

"This is not the year to worry about the competitive piece of high school athletics," said Maguire. "This is not the year to be worried about state championships. The health and and safety of the student athletes is our priority and if the circumstances allow, we want to see them out participating in their sports, but it's going to be participating on a level that is fair to all schools and with the understanding that we want them participating for their social and emotional well-being. After what we went through last spring, none of us want to go through that again."

The desired plan for the postseason is to keep games “local,” according to a NJSIAA statement sent out on Friday, “meaning a sectional championship or less.”

The NJSIAA is advising conferences and leagues to rework schedules and postseason tournaments in order to keep teams closer to home. The state wants to emphasize local competition and minimize the number of different schools that come in contact with each other.

Smaller divisions of schools for competition purposes is also being encouraged in order to facilitate communications and scheduling.

"Geography is going to play a big part in this," Maguire said. "Our message, loud and clear, is that we firmly feel that athletics should stay as local as possible as long as possible. That is why there will be no statewide travel and no statewide competition. From a health perspective, we would like to keep the kids as close to home as possible."

Schools that do not participate in the postseason may continue to play until Nov. 22, with the exception being Thanksgiving football games. These are permissible after Nov. 22, at each school’s discretion. With a Thanksgiving game, football teams could play as many as nine games.

No other fall sports competition will be allowed after Nov. 22, however.

"We feel very firmly that we need athletics done before the Thanksgiving break," Maguire said. "But, if a school district wants to honor and play its Thanksgiving day game that has been a tradition in its community, we are not going to interfere in that decision."

The NJSIAA had no official word on whether fans will be allowed at games this fall.

“There has been no determination on that,” Maguire said. “That’s going to be based on Department of Health guidelines and outdoor crowd sizes. The order is more coming from the Governor’s office and Department of Health. The NJSIAA has no position or statement on whether fans will be allowed or not. It’s way too early to tell.”

The complete text of the NJSIAA’s release: “The official start of the fall sports season is being pushed back by approximately one month, with summer workouts for high school student-athletes – which may begin on July 13 – continuing until August 28. Following summer workouts (also known as the “summer recess period”), there will be a two-week hiatus from August 29 through September 13, during which only virtual meetings will be permitted, and only related to in-season (fall) sports.

Under the current plan – developed by the NJSIAA Sports Advisory Task Force, which is composed of athletic directors from across the state – official practices for all fall sports may commence on September 14. Competition will start September 28 for girls tennis and on October 1 for all other sports except football, which will kick off its season on October 2.

Regular seasons will conclude on October 23 for girl’s tennis, November 7 for football, and November 12 for all other fall sports. Limited postseason play will run from October 24 through October 31 for girls tennis, and November 13 through November 22 for all other sports. Schools that do not participate in the postseason may continue to play until November 22, with the exception being Thanksgiving football games. These are permissible after November 22, at each school’s discretion. No other fall sports competition will be allowed after November 22.

‘High school sports are school-based, so we need to first ensure all is in order with the opening of our schools,” says Colleen Maguire, NJSIAA chief operating officer. “After that, we can begin playing sports. To be clear, our goal is to return to play – while making sure that health, safety, emotional well-being, and academics come first. We have a different model than some other types of programs that are far smaller in scale and operate independently. We have a duty to ensure that New Jersey’s schools and their more than 1.5 million students and teachers, including 283,000 high school student-athletes, can first return to school and their academics, and then participate in extracurricular activities like sports.’

The NJSIAA Sports Advisory Task Force has identified the following eight guiding principles that will drive the decision-making process.

• Ensure the health and safety of all student-athletes.
• Re-engage all student-athletes as soon as possible for their social, emotional and mental well-being.
• Maximize participation across all sports and all student-athletes.
• Keep competition as local as possible for as long as possible.
• Develop multiple return to play models to minimize the risk of a cancelled season.
• Maintain the ability to pivot to back-up plans when deemed necessary.
• Minimize potential impact on the spring season.
• Minimize the importance of postseason, statewide championships.

In a memo to NJSIAA member schools, the NJSIAA Sports Advisory Task Force said: ‘This plan is the first model to be provided in what will be a series of return to play models that will be in place for the 2020-2021 school year. The goal of the task force is to identify multiple back-up models that will be available as both school-related and health-related circumstances evolve.'

The memo went on note: ‘This plan is intended to allow schools and leagues and conferences to start planning for a fall sports season. We all recognize the fluidity of the COVID-19 pandemic and realize the circumstances are changing regularly. We will provide updates to all potential plans as timely as possible to ensure schools and leagues and conferences have time to adapt to any pivots to a different return to play model.'

New Jersey’s various scholastic leagues and conferences are strongly encouraged to revise schedules to emphasize local competition and minimize the number of different schools that come in contact with each other. Smaller divisions of schools for competition purposes is encouraged in order to facilitate communications and scheduling.

The NJSIAA will strive to open postseason participation to any team wishing to participate. As with the regular season, the postseason will remain local, meaning a sectional championship or less. A seeding committee will be used by every sport in order to remove the reliance on power points, standings, and overall record.

‘By reducing the length of the season, student-athletes will have the opportunity for participation – but will also have more time to focus on their academic requirements,” says NJSIAA President Steve Shohfi. “A reduced season will naturally lead to a reduced amount of competition, which minimizes the risk of infection through exposure to many different teams and schools.’

Denis Nelson, a member of the NJSIAA COVID-19 Sports Advisory Task Force and the athletic director at River Dell Regional High School notes: ‘Removing the possibility for statewide, postseason competition is intended to convey the specific message that the fall season is specifically about opportunity, engagement, and participation. It is not about winning championships. From a health perspective, it’s appropriate to keep sports as local as possible. From a competition perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial but different impact on every school district. As a result, the playing field won’t be level this year, so it’s only fair not to crown statewide champions.‘”

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Brandon Gould may be reached at bgould@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BrandonGouldHS.

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