MIAA Recommends No Fall Football; Other Fall Sports Start Mid-September

By Michael Najarian

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FRAMINGHAM – The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) COVID-19 Task Force has set a tentative calendar for the playing of high school sports for the 2020-2021 school year.

The calendar will be sent to the MIAA board of directors on Wednesday for approval.

The fall sports season will start on September 14, with some sports being allowed to play.

Recommended sports are boys & girls soccer, boys & girls cross-country, Fall Gymnastics, Field Hockey, girls Volleyball, Golf, and Swim & Dive. That season will run through November 20. 

The winter sports season will start on November 30, and will run through February 21.

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Boys & girls basketball, boys & girls hockey, and boys & girls indoor track, are among the sports to run in that period. Also running in that period is wrestling, gymnastics, Alpine Ski, winter cheer and dance, Nordic Ski, and winter swim & dive.

A new sports period has been created for this season 2020-21 school year, which the Task Force calls “Fall Sports II.”

This new period runs between February 22 and April 25.

Football, Fall Cheer, Unified Basketball, and sports not played during the original fall sports season are allowed to operate in this period. 

This will have an effect on the spring sports season, as the period for spring sports is April 26 through July 3.

Baseball, Softball, Boys Volleyball, Girls Golf, boys & girls Tennis, boys & girls outdoor track and field, and boys and girls lacrosse can play in this period. Rugby and Sailing are also allowed to operate in this time frame as well.

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Schools can adjust dates for their individual teams with the approval of the District Athletic Committee (DAC).

This allows for flexibility for certain sports if they can’t play right away or have to postpone operations at any point.

The Task Force is also repealing out of season coaching restrictions for this school year as well. 

If the MIAA Board of Directors allows these recommendations to pass, this calendar will become official. If it does, the committees for each sport will be tasked with coming up with the necessary modifications to fit the guidelines of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EEA).