By Michael Letendre
When the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s Board of Control met on Thursday to discuss the scholastic sports season, the start date of the winter campaign remained unchanged.
And in terms of getting the winter, sub-spring (or alternative) and spring seasons in, all three prospects are still in play.
But the winter campaign is still on hold with a date of January 19, 2021 still looming as a possible starting point for basketball, boys swimming, hockey, and indoor track & field.
“The start date for winter remains January 19,” said CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini. “And the commitment of the board remains to have as little impact on spring season as possible.”
The CIAC delayed the winter season on November 17 while Governor Ned Lamont and the Department of Public Health deemed high risk sports – such as wrestling, dance, and cheer – not safe to commence due to the transmission of COVID-19 this year.
It was the hope that those high risk sports could be put back on the schedule sometime in 2021.
That includes 11-on-11 football which could take place in the alternative season between the winter and spring campaigns.
But, just like a professional boxing card, everything is subject to change.
“Everything else is dependent — no one is playing sports until January 19, so we really can’t move forward with any definitive action until we get through December and know what the position of the governor’s office and (Department of Public Health) is,” said Lungarini.
Consideration will lean towards springs sports since last year’s slate was wiped clean due to the pandemic that saw winter postseason tournaments get cancelled.
Still unknown is what the CIAC will do about the alternative season as winter sports were pushed back.
But when 11-on-11 football was postponed, the alternative season was created for ‘any sport that didn’t substantially complete a season.’
Football should fit in that window though the delay of the winter season might have stalled out that possibility completely.
It’s also not known if wrestling, cheer, or dance could commence during that alternative campaign.
Treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 may not be available to the general public by the completion of the school year with the fall being a possible target for full vaccinations.
That puts any kind of high risk sports in serious peril for the 2021 scholastic calendar.
The initial winter season was to have practice commence on November 21 with games starting December 7.
The tournament round was to conclude sometime around February 21.
From there, the alternative season would have started at the end of February, flowing into April.
The spring campaign would have gotten traction soon after the alternative season came to an end.
But with the winter delay, a new plan will be needed to see if all three seasons can be safely played during the 2021 calendar year.
Stay tuned…
