The Virginia High School League Executive Committee voted last week to delay a decision on fall sports until July 27 and presented three options to vote on for conducting sports in the 2020-2021 school year.
One thing that all three models have in common is that football, volleyball and cheerleading are not options to be played in the fall. They are deemed to be “high-risk” sports as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Virginia’s current phase three reopening plan, contact sports are not permitted. Each of those sports could take place in 2021 in two of the three models.
Fall sports were scheduled to begin with football and golf on July 30, with the rest of the fall sports slated to begin Aug. 3. But the official dates will not be known until the results of the July 27 meeting. The VHSL did state that the 10-day July-August dead period has been suspended and that out-of-season practices are allowed to continue for all sports.
The proposed models include:
- Model 1 — All sports would be left in their current seasons. In that model, only golf and cross country (considered low- and moderate-risk sports) would take place. Each of the four athletic directors interviewed for this story see that as the weakest option.
- Model 2 — Fall and spring seasons would be switched. Track, tennis, soccer, baseball and softball are all considered low- and moderate-risk sports.
- Model 3 — The winter season would last from Dec. 14-Feb. 20, 2021 (first contest date: Dec. 28); the “fall” sports season would take place Feb. 15-May 1 (first contest date: March 1, 2021); and the spring season would take place April 12, 2021–June 26, 2021 (first contest date: April 26, 2021).
