Game on, season on.
The MIAA Board of Directors on Friday gave its unanimous approval to sanction football, indoor track and unified basketball for the Fall 2 season to run from Feb. 22 to April 25. The board also voted to approve the modifications made for soccer, volleyball and field hockey for those districts who were not able to compete in those sports in the fall.
The board also voted to uphold the recommendation of the Tournament Management Committee to not hold any MIAA sanctioned postseason tournaments for the Fall 2 season. The MIAA COVID-19 Task Force, which helped coordinate the modifications, encouraged schools participating in Fall 2 to create schedules to stay within their leagues or geographic regions to limit travel and number of opponents.
“I’m just extremely happy that these kids get a chance to play,” said Duxbury football coach David Maimaron. “If there’s anything we learned, it’s that nothing is guaranteed. Coaches and kids have been walking on eggshells, but since we got the news, I’ve already gotten a bunch of text messages from the players and they are excited.”
While there are several modifications in football, the underlying feeling among coaches is that they’ll do whatever it takes to give the student-athletes a chance to operate in a safe environment.
“Obviously, it’s going to take a team effort from the coaches and administration to manage the game,” said Milton coach Steve Dembowski. “But it’s a positive thing for these kids to have a chance to get out there from a social and emotional standpoint.”
Added Stoneham football coach Bob Almeida: “I’m so thrilled for the seniors. This is all they would have had, so I’m happy that they are going to get some sort of football season.”
One concern was over the 15 days of preseason practice needed before the start of the season. With the EEA guidelines forbidding constant contact inside for sports such as football, gyms are not an option on days like Friday, when the temperature was waging a losing battle to reach double-digits.
“I can’t imagine not being able to do anything in the gym, especially on a day like today where the wind chill is below-11,” Almeida said. “Who knows what the weather is going to be like on Feb. 22. It would be nice to be in a gym to be able to get some drill work done. That I don’t understand.”
A modification which will ruffle the feathers of the bigger schools is limiting the rosters to 45 on game day. For many programs, it won’t create a problem, but for schools such as Catholic Memorial, which dresses upward of 70 a game, it’s something head coach John DiBiaso would rather avoid.
“I don’t agree with limiting it to 45. There is no scientific data out there which says having 60 kids is more dangerous than 45,” DiBiaso said. “To have a kid practice every day and have to tell him he can’t dress for the game goes against everything we are trying to teach. Colleges dress 85-90 kids a game and they were able to do it, so why not trust the adults here to be able to do it with 60?”
The hope is that having the sport competing outdoors, coupled with the availability of vaccines and improving numbers, will allow all the sports to have a season they were deprived of in the fall.
“I would hate to see any school have to shut things down for two weeks during the season because you would be losing two games out of six (or seven),” said Central Catholic coach Chuck Adamopoulos, who vows to continue his tradition of wearing shorts on game day regardless of weather conditions. “I’ve been looking at the positivity rate and it’s down to 4.4% which means less people are getting it, so that’s a good thing.”
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January 30, 2021 at 04:03AM
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MIAA Board of Directors approves Fall 2 season - Boston Herald
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