The MIAA Board of Directors met virtually on Thursday to hammer out a number of parameters for the upcoming winter sports season, most notably voting to not hold any MIAA-sanctioned winter tournaments in the 2020-2021 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote, which passed unanimously 20-0, was initially recommended by the MIAA Tournament Management Committee (TMC).
During Thursday’s meeting, Thom Holdgate, athletic director at Duxbury and co-chair of the MIAA’s COVID-19 Task Force, made the motion on five recommendations, each of which were passed by unanimous votes.
— A start date of Nov. 30 for the winter season, if guidance from the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) is released on or before Nov. 9.
The recommendation also was to recommend a delayed start to the season if the EEA guidance arrives after that date, although there was some speculation at the meeting that the guidance could be released as early as the middle of next week.
— A Winter season end date of Feb. 21, 2021.
The Board of Directors previously had approved these dates in August when it created the new “four-season” sports calendar for 2020-21 as a result of the pandemic.
Other recommendations that passed unanimously during Thursday’s meeting were:
— In conjunction with the TMC, the COVID-19 Task Force encouraged schools to create winter season schedules within leagues or geographic pods to limit travel, as is being done with schools and leagues playing in the Fall I season.
— Individual winter sport committees will present proposed sport-specific guidance and modifications within five days of the release of EEA guidance.
— The MIAA’s Sports Medicine Committee will present viable winter sports and modifications to the task force.
— The COVID-19 Task Force will recommend sports to be included in the winter season to the Board of Directors.
— Within three school days of the release of EEA guidance, the Board of Directors will vote on the task force recommendations.
There are still plenty of questions about which sports will be allowed and how the rules will be changed to fit the updated guidance for the winter season. Previous EEA guidance ruled winter sports ice hockey, basketball and wrestling as “high-risk” sports, so the rule changes in order to make those sports safe to play could be drastic.