Maine’s high school winter sports season has been delayed indefinitely, the Maine Principals’ Association announced Tuesday.
The MPA sent a memo to member schools saying that “start of the winter sports season will NOT be Monday, Nov. 16.”
MPA executive director Mike Burnham said there was no new starting date yet for practices as the association continues to work with state agencies and representatives from the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, the Maine School Superintendents Association and the Maine School Board Association to come up with COVID-19 safety protocols for the winter season.
Burnham could not say when a new start date would be determined.
“This is a process,” said Burnham. “We continue to work with all these stakeholders.”
The individual sports committees of the MPA’s eight winter sports, along with music and drama officials, have been working to develop activity-specific guidelines, which they will present to the MPA’s Sports Medicine Committee. Burnham said once reviewed by the Sports Medicine Committee, those recommendations will be sent to state agencies “for any feedback they can provide so that they align with state guidelines.”
Burnham said the memo was sent out on Tuesday because “we were starting to hear schools were getting pressure from ice rinks and other outside facilities to reserve time (for practices or games). So we decided to delay the start of the winter season, the same rationale we used when girls’ hockey was moved back.”
In the memo sent to schools, Burnham noted that many schools may face facilities issues in the winter. Gymnasiums are being used for classrooms, study halls or cafeterias and many outside facilities, usually at colleges or community swimming pools or ice rinks, are not available either.
The memo also notes that many outside programs, such as travel basketball or ice hockey programs, have continued to play throughout the fall, in some cases going out of state.
“Having these teams continue to play, while the school-based programs are not allowed to play games, is an issue that is currently being addressed by state agencies,” the memo said. “Our office continues to emphasize that we feel that schools can do a much better job of safely providing these activities.”
The start of the fall sports season was delayed three times because of the coronavirus pandemic before the state and MPA could agree on COVID-19 safety protocols. When they did, tackle football and instead volleyball were not allowed to be played. The MPA said at the time it would work on a plan to try to play those sports instead in early 2021.
This story will be updated.
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October 28, 2020 at 03:10AM
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