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As coronavirus cases continue to spike across the U.S., one of the nation's biggest and busiest high school sports states is planning to start the 2020 fall season on time.
At least that's what the Miami Herald reported Wednesday about the Florida High School Athletic Association, which is "optimistic" all sports will open as scheduled with practice on July 27 and preseason play beginning Aug. 12-15.
Florida football regular season openers are slated for as early as Aug. 20. The other fall sports in the Sunshine State are bowling, cross country, golf, swimming and diving, and girls volleyball.
"The governor [Ron DeSantis] and commissioner of education [Richard Corcoran] are very optimistic about schools opening as scheduled in the fall," FHSAA executive director George Tomyn said during a virtual meeting on Tuesday. "I'm also remaining optimistic. At this moment in time, our staff is counting on a fall sports schedule that has already been published."
That, of course, could change as of July 1, when the FHSAA is planning its next meeting with a newly formed fall sports task force. Tomyn told the newspaper there is currently not a Plan B but "we are prepared to discuss them as they come upon us."
According to figures updated Wednesday by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 34,313 new COVID-19 cases in the nation over the last 24 hours and 784 deaths. That raises the numbers to date to 2,336,615 cases and 121,117 deaths. In Florida, those numbers currently are
109,014 cases (5.508 reported Tuesday alone) and 3,238 deaths.
Tomyn emphasized student safety is still the No. 1 priority and this is an extremely fluid situation.
"We intend to start things as is calendarized," Tomyn said. "That could change this afternoon at four o'clock, and that could change this afternoon or tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. We know that's the biggest issue that we have.
"It's the unknown, not knowing exactly what the case may be or what tomorrow may bring."
Other states have taken similar approaches, planning to keep the regular schedule in place until it is deemed unsafe or possible to keep those timetables.
On Friday, the Texas Association of Sports Officials said the Lone Star State is going on as scheduled, quoting the University Interscholastic League (UIL) and Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS).
Two days earlier, UIL officials communicated a similar precautionary stance to most state high school sports governing bodies, saying in a release: "UIL will continue to work with state officials and monitor CDC and other federal guidance to determine any potential modifications for activities. Schools should take their local context into account and should follow all local and state requirements when considering UIL activities."
Iowa is currently playing baseball and softball games during its summer season, which started about a month late due to the virus. Fans are allowed to attend those games and during a baseball season opener June 15 between
Pleasant Valley and
Assumption (Davenport), a game photographed by MaxPreps, few, if any, wore masks.
Most states are currently allowing summer workouts for student athletes but with strict social-distance requirements.
One of the nation's top football programs St. Thomas Aquinas, from Fort Lauderdale (Fla.), hopes to kick off its season on time in August.
File photo by Dennis Lee
