CHAPEL HILL — Less than 24 hours after Gov. Roy Cooper declared that North Carolina schools will operate on a partially online and partially in-person schedule this school year, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association announced its next step to bringing back interscholastic sports.
In an email to media members on Wednesday, NCHSAA media director James Alverson informed the sports community that the Board of Directors voted and approved a series of rules and calendar changes based on Cooper’s decision.
The biggest alteration to the hopeful upcoming fall sports season is that the Association delayed the start of the season until “at least Sept. 1.”
In addition, the first five student days of the school year will be “designated as a dead period of all sports, allowing school staff to focus on the start of school.”
The NCHSAA opened summer workouts, along with a set of COVID-19 guidelines, on June 15, but RCS is one of several districts in the Sandhills Athletic Conference to not resume athletic activity in any capacity.
The NCHSAA also stated that phase one of summer conditioning and workouts will also continue as outlined until further notice.
“For now, we believe these steps provide hope for our student-athletes, and the possibility for playing fall sports,” commissioner Que Tucker said in a statement. “We know that many decisions are being made relative to the reopening plan schools will follow.
“After each LEA has had an opportunity to formalize and finalize those reopening plans, the NCHSAA staff will survey the membership to determine how sports should and/or can fit into the various models that will exist across the state,” she added.
“Please understand this delayed start date is not ‘in cement’ and can be delayed even further if we do not have improved data from DHHS, or some other reason exists for delaying further into September or beyond.”
The delay will impact the start of several sports teams at Richmond Senior High School, as a normal fall sports season is usually two weeks deep into its schedule by the start of September.
Richmond has six fall sports programs currently not participating in summer workouts: football, volleyball, boys’ soccer, girls’ tennis, girls’ golf and co-ed cross country.
Richmond’s football team is scheduled to open its season on Aug. 21 at Clayton High School, followed by hosting Jones High School (Orlando, Fla.) a week later. The push to the start of the season will likely wash those two non-conference games from Richmond’s schedule.
Head coach Bryan Till commented following the announcement by Cooper on Tuesday, stating he hopes the “NCHSAA will reach out to coaches to get an adequate voice. Our voice is important for sports and we know what’s best for the kids since we’ve been in contact with them so often.”
Head soccer coach Chris Larsen, who hasn’t been able to workout with his team or hold his annual soccer camp during his third year at the helm, said the delay by the NCHSAA is shocking but wants more answers.
“It’s not a shock to me that they would delay the start of the season, but I wish they would give a little more guidance as to what that would look like at this point,” he said in a text message to ROSports. “I understand this is unchartered territory for everyone, but trying to plan for a successful start back to normalcy is hard when you have little to work with.
“If we don’t move out of phase one shortly, I would not be surprised if we didn’t get the opportunity to play games until October,” he added.
Volleyball coach Ashleigh Larsen, who like her husband will be in her third season with the Lady Raiders, also wasn’t surprised and is holding onto hope that she and her dozen players see the court this fall.
“I’m thankful that the season wasn’t canceled,” she said. “Hopefully this gives us some time to get moving. I’m just unsure about what type of work we can get in beforehand.
“I know me and the girls are remaining positive and hoping for a season since they decided to go with Plan B.”
Tucker added that she and the NCHSAA are aware that safely bringing back high school athletics is a process and that the Association will continue working in the coming weeks to make that happen.
“We acknowledge that playing certain sports are more problematic at any time without a vaccine. However, we remain in consultation with our Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) members, and they believe we can and should offer a sports program, with all necessary modifications and delays,” she said.
“In the coming weeks, we will continue working with the SMAC as we plan our next steps for the fall, as well as determining when equipment could be shared, and/or if we can move into phase two of the summer workouts and conditioning.
“We are in this together, and we will play again,” she closed.
This is a developing story and ROSports will provide any updates as they occur.
