PIAA Announces Return to Competition Plans for January
MECHANICSBURG, PA – The PIAA, the governing body for scholastic sports in Pennsylvania, announced Tuesday a “return to competition” plan for its member schools.
Athletic activities had been put on hold by Gov. Tom Wolf earlier this month, through Jan. 4. The PIAA plan would allow practices to resume Jan. 4, which is a provisional date for practice within the Keystone Central School District. Winter practices had not begun for Central Mountain and Bucktail High Schools in November because instruction in the local schools has been online only since Nov. 2.
Keystone Central Superintendent Jacquelyn Martin had announced last week that athletic practices could resume on Jan. 4, if the local data and cases are contained. She said more information would be provided to teams when available.
Per the PIAA announcement, Central Mountain and Bucktail, with no preseason work completed, would need 10 days of practice before an outside competition, putting a prospective start date in a best-case scenario somewhere in mid-January.
The PIAA announcement:
PRESS RELEASE: RETURN TO PLAY – PRACTICE PROVISIONS FOR RE-START
At its December 22, 2020, Board of Directors Meeting, PIAA adopted the following return to competition provisions for practice to be followed by member schools starting Monday, January 4, 2021. PIAA President, Mr. Frank Majikes, stated, “The Board felt it was important to establish a common theme for practices, where some schools started, some did not and some had a partial start. This will give member schools direction to return to competition on January 4, 2021 per the Governor’s order.”
The chart below illustrates a template of how to hold 10 days of practice before competition. If schools started practice, they need to complete a combination of 10 practices before a Contest is played. Those schools that completed a pre-season – including those that have already played a contest – must get minimally 4 practices to resume play. This change accommodates all areas of the state including those that may be moving to a later January start. A reduction to 10 pre-season practices for all competing teams has been determined to be reasonable from a health and safety standard to start and is consistent with the alternate season schedule. To assist those sports where the school is required to utilize off campus (community or private facilities) for their hosting of a sport, specifically the sports of swimming, bowling, rifle, and girls’ gymnastics, the requirement would be five (5) days, not ten (10) days. These changes are for 2020- 21 winter sports only.
# of Days of Practices Completed # of Practice Days Needed Before Competition:
0 ————————————–10
1 ————————————- 9
2 ————————————- 8
3 ————————————- 7
4 ————— ——————— 6
5 ————————————- 5
6 or more — ————————— 4
Virtual practices are not allowed and a school may not shorten the days of practice before competition by hosting more than one practice in a day. Five (5) practices are needed before the first scrimmage unless six (6) or more preseason practices have been completed; then only four (4) practices are needed before competition/scrimmage. In addition to the above accommodation, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to postpone the Team Wrestling Championship to a date to be determined and to follow the individual championships. This schedule change is made to accommodate schools by expanding the number of weeks in the regular season of competition.
