OSAA shifts sports start to February, keeps three-season plan
CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 12/8/2020, 11:41 a.m.
By FOX 12 Staff
PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -- The Oregon School Activities Association announced Monday it would be pushing back the calendar again.
Previously the plan was to get things going by the end of this month. Now practices are set to start in February, with the first games in March.
It was exactly a year ago that the Central Catholic High School football team won the state championship.
Right now this year, they haven't even been able to start full-contact practices.
As far as the new OSAA plan goes, there will be three shortened seasons with fall sports beginning in February.
As it stands now, cross country and soccer are already allowed, volleyball is only ok at specific risk levels and full-contact football is still prohibited.
The hope is that in the next few months, COVID-19 case counts decrease, and counties can move out of the extreme risk category into lower tiers.
The next season is for spring sports like baseball and golf will be in April and May.
The last season is winter sports, including swimming, wrestling, and basketball, in mid-May through late June.
The OSAA Executive Director, Peter Weber, said they feel more confident about this plan. However, certain things need to occur for every activity to happen, and as much as some people might prefer otherwise, they have to follow the rules.
"We've had a number of people contacting us over the last couple of months let the kids play, do what's right, disregard what the governor says and just go with it. But the reality is we can't do that those are not suggestions from the health authority the governor's office they're requirements," Weber said.
He says this plan is a way to work within the parameters they have and still provide as many opportunities as possible for kids.
Weber said they'll continue to talk with the schools, the governor's office, and Oregon Health Authority.