Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker released the latest updated guidelines for youth sports during Phase III of the state’s reopening plan on Friday, announcing that soccer has officially been changed from a “High-Risk” category sport to a “Moderate Risk” category sport. That change paves soccer leagues to begin holding competitive practices and playing games as soon as possible.
The news was met with praise from several area soccer coaches, as to be expected.
“It’s just fabulous news, I’m ecstatic to hear it,” said Saugus girls soccer coach Chris Coviello. “It might just be (the governor’s office) throwing us a bone, but I’ll take it regardless. It’s such a relief to know that we’ll at least be able to play something this year.”
“It’s such great news,” said Classical boys soccer coach Eric Moreno Jr. “Obviously we (as coaches) aren’t able to take part in anything yet in terms of the captains practices, but it’ll be great to tell those guys they can actually scrimmage and compete during their practices now. That’ll really fire them up.”
Soccer wasn’t the only sport that had its category changed, as cross country and crew were both moved from “Moderate Risk” to “Low Risk.” As of now, sports have been separated into three categories:
— Low Risk (golf, cross country, crew, individual swimming, tennis, biking, surfing, gymnastics)
— Moderate Risk (baseball, softball, soccer, field hockey, team swimming, track and field, fencing, no-contact lacrosse)
— High Risk (football, basketball, lacrosse, ice hockey, wrestling, competitive cheer, martial arts)
The new categorizations mean that football is now the only fall sport that is not allowed to hold practices and games. All other high school fall sports — soccer, cross country, golf, volleyball and field hockey — would be allowed to start their seasons on time provided they are given to go-ahead when the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) release their guidelines for fall sports in the coming weeks.
