For much of the summer, the Colorado High School Activities Association debated a satisfactory solution on how to safely play a fall sports schedule during the coronavirus pandemic. The state's governing body for high school sports came up with a resolution Wednesday night: Simply let member schools choose.
The CHSAA Board of Directors voted 12-3 to approve a plan from the Governor's COVID Response Team to allow football, field hockey and spirit squads to pick between Season A (the fall) or Season C (March 1 to May 1).
"This will allow local schools and districts to make the determination," a CHSAA release read, adding the seasons will be treated equitably, but schools may not play in both.
"We are in a pandemic," Board of Directors President Troy Baker said. "It's not normal. We're all trying to find a way to navigate through it, with the hope of trying to find some normalcy in our lives. There isn't a guide on how to do this. … We are a diverse state and many of our schools are faced with unique challenges that can elevate the complexity in making a decision that supports all schools and students."
On Aug. 4, the CHSAA laid out a four-season plan that pushed back fall sports football, field hockey, gymnastics, boys soccer, unified bowling and girls volleyball to Season C. It kept softball, boys golf, boys tennis and cross country in the current Season A, which is supposed to conclude by Oct. 17 but now will be adjusted.
Season B (basketball, ice hockey, skiing, spirit, girls swimming and wrestling) runs from Jan. 4 and concludes March 6. Season D (baseball, girls golf, lacrosse, girls soccer, boys swimming, girls tennis, boys volleyball and track and field) starts April 26 and concludes in late June.
More guidelines were set for football teams switching back to Season A, including a 50-player maximum on the sideline during games. When the new football season begins "will be communicated to CHSAA member schools in a timely manner."
"I would like to thank the CHSAA Board of Directors and the CHSAA staff for their commitment to reconsidering the options once the variances were provided to the CHSAA office," CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green said. "I would also like to thank our membership, who has been in this whirlwind as we sought a resolution. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the Governor's office to obtain variances for wrestling, swimming and other sports in Seasons B, C and D."
Wednesday's announcement was on the same day the Big Ten Conference announced an about-face to reinstate football next month after last month postponing fall sports to the spring due to the pandemic.
On Sept. 3, the Michigan High School Athletic Association was the first state to flip back its high school football season from the spring back to the fall, and a week later the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association voted to do the same, pending a State Board of Education approval.
Currently, 25 states have kicked off its football season and two more — Michigan and Maine — are scheduled to start on Friday. Seventeen states, including Colorado, plus the District of Columbia, offer football in the winter or spring of 2021. One of those states, Minnesota, has scheduled an emergency meeting Friday to discuss possible adjustments to its fall season, including football.
Columbine and Cherry Creek battle in last season's 5A state title game.
File photo by Theodore Stark
