Abington Heights hopes to have voluntary, offseason workouts begin for athletes on July 1.
Abington Journal file photo
Abington Heights officials are working toward a possible July 1 return in voluntary, offseason workouts for athletes on its various sports team.
Athletic director Randy Hanyon said Monday night that the goal is to have rules in place a week before activities are opened up to athletes. That would allow time for coaches and others to be prepared for how workouts will take place while state residents are continuing efforts to manage the threats presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
High school sports activities, like many other public gatherings, have been forbidden since March because of public health concerns.
Gov. Tom Wolf released guidelines June 10, allowing for many sports to resume, providing various guidelines are met. In the case of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, which has been in consultation with the governor’s office, the actions removed restrictions but created steps that had to be adhered to before school teams are allowed to return.
“Pennsylvania has some of the best athletes and teams in the country and they can now begin to safely return to organized sports,” Wolf said. “This guidance balances keeping student-athletes safe from COVID-19 while allowing them to participate in an important part of their lives.
“This is another step toward reopening our state and getting things back on track. As students and teammates get ready to train and compete, it’s important that they follow precautions to protect each other and their community from the risk of COVID-19.”
The PIAA suspended athletics, then later canceled them for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year because of the coronavirus outbreak. In doing so, it halted winter sports during the state championship process; canceled all spring competition and left doubts about the status of the upcoming fall sports seasons.
The latest actions do not guarantee fall sports or how they will be carried out, but do allow schools and their teams to prepare for their anticipated return.
Similar to sports on other levels, high schools can begin activities that fit within the latest public safety orders in each county. If any counties return to the “red” status, sports must be halted again.
Prior to the Aug. 17 official opening of high school practices, teams must abide by existing PIAA offseason rules. They will also need to follow some scholastic sports-specific guidelines released by the governor and adhere to school-specific rules determined by each individual school district and posted publicly on a website prior to the resumption of activity.
The requirement of local rules forces school districts to make all guidelines clear to the public in their own communities and is intended to avoid the following of “one-size-fits-all” guidelines issued locally or nationally in cases where they may not be appropriate locally.
While each school technically will have its own posted set of rules, they will be highly similar in many cases, particularly within schools that are members of the Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Many of the rules are already mandated. Others are contained in suggestions in reference materials from which the schools are working. In addition, LIAA athletic directors have been communicating with each other the needed steps and were expected to discuss the wording to the return-to-play rules during a meeting they had scheduled for Tuesday.
“There’s not a whole lot of wiggle room,” said Hanyon, who was not part of the Tuesday LIAA meeting because he had a different meeting scheduled at Abington Heights. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the documents look very similar and that’s a good thing.”
Hanyon said he is working within major guidelines such as not sharing equipment and no more than 25 people gathering while still under yellow conditions, all while not knowing for certain if and when status changes will take place according to the number of coronavirus cases. He is hoping to work out details by the end of the week for possible administration approval.
The Abington Heights School Boards meets June 24, which could allow time for rules to be approved and posted in advance of July 1.
As for the rules that have already been determined, the Pennsylvania Department of Education joined the PIAA in assisting Wolf’s office with developing those plans.
“Allowing voluntary activities to commence at PIAA member schools as early as the approval by the local board is a significant move to allow students to be students,” PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi said. “We are very appreciative and supportive of the governor’s staff and PDE for allowing our input and having discussion of opening schools for voluntary workouts and activities.”
Slightly more than half of the schools in District 2 of the PIAA are currently in green conditions, which would allow for up to 250 people or half of a facility’s capacity to be present once events are held.
