Will There Be High School Sports in the Fall? My Two Cent Scenario to Play Ball

Yesterday, The Virginia High School League issued the following statement, which can be found on its website at vhsl.org.

"(Charlottesville, VA)) — The Virginia High School League released guidelines on Friday alongside Phase 1 of reopening the state regarding out of season practice for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

After receiving numerous inquiries from school divisions, the VHSL says it will continue to follow protocols and guidelines. This means that currently, out of season practice and all activities this summer are canceled until further notice. 

The current relaxing of the Governor’s stay at home order applies to businesses and schools remain closed as well as in-school facility use are still off-limits.

The VHSL said in a release that after Governor Northam declares schools can re-open and guidelines are provided for the reopening, the organization will work with the Executive Committee to set protocols and guidelines for resuming athletic activities. 

“We ask every member school to support the Governor’s directives and the DOE during this time,” said VHSL officials. “Every decision will be made in compliance with those orders and will continue to be made with the best interest of our student-athletes and the public. Safety will always be our number one priority.”

More information on the Virginia High School League can be found online."

By the verbiage of the statement, this does not cancel summer practices, as the decision can be reversed after further review. The powers that be will meet again next month, unless there is a decision to congregate and reconsider sooner.

However, many skeptics took this as the next step of the process to cancel fall sports, or at least push their seasons forward to next spring.

Can fall sports be played this year? Maybe, but it will depend on a certain set of circumstances.

I see a scenario (based on nothing but my educated guess) where a "virtual" summer school keeps buildings closed until mid-August, and then teams could get their 20 required practices and start contests in mid-September. For HS football, by cutting out the bye week and the first round of playoffs (bad news for the 1-9 and 2-8 teams who make the postseason in the lower classes), the season could be wrapped up the week before Christmas break. 

Here is my thinking. Generally, one school is designated for a school system's summer school, and an assistant principal is chosen from a host of applicants to be the principal of the summer sessions. In Arlington, summer school is slated to take place at Washington-Liberty, while in Prince William, Potomac High in Dumfries has been designated as the location.

Yesterday, I asked an assistant principal in Northern Virginia about the possibility of conducting summer school. The response surprised me - "We don't know yet." In the meantime, many summer teaching positions throughout the state have remained unfilled. For those checking the calendar, summer school would be starting in 4-5 weeks, and because many schools are not teaching new material, or in some cases, issuing grades other than pass/fail, how can a teacher objectively determine who should fail a course and be forced to remediate with a summer session?

Anyhow, that is my rationale for either canceling summer school, or making it virtual for those who may choose to attend for academic reinforcement.

While this not directly relate to sports, it does serve as a reason to keep the buildings closed until August.

Point 2 -- Northern Virginia will not reach Phase 1 for at least two weeks. I can't imagine that the coaches at Westfield and Stone Bridge will be silent if Oscar Smith and Maury are allowed to practice for a week or two before they can. The starting date has to be a uniform one, and current VHSL regulations require that a player participate in 20 days of practice before being allowed to play in a game. There will be no two-week warm-up session, followed by the start of competition. There will have to be three-and-a-half to four weeks of practice.

My scenario would probably have practices start on August 10, with the four weeks leading into Labor Day weekend. Games would begin on Thursday, September 10. If the bye week is eliminated and schools have to play ten games in ten weeks, the regular-season finale would be on November 14. 

If the VHSL decides to revert its former decision of allowing the top eight teams from each region into the playoffs, and whittling it to a Final Four, we could save a week of post-season play, and the state championships could commence on December 12. If the decision is made to include a bye week, it would be postponed to the 19th.

Then again, if there is a marginal growth in COVID-19 cases and deaths throughout Virginia after the implementation of Phase 1, then this proposal goes out the window. But this will be a test of self-discipline as the teams with the most athletes continuing to dutifully stay conditioned will have a strong advantage from Day 1. The underlying message. Stay in shape and stay tuned!