CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – High school football in April, action on the baseball diamond in October? That could be how high school sports look this upcoming school year.
On Tuesday morning, the VHSL, the governing body of Virginia high school sports, announced three different plans to make sports happen.
Plan One - Don’t move anything, but lose some sports
With this plan, due to current restrictions, only cross country and golf would be able to happen. That’s because those two sports are considered lower-infection risk activities. In this plan, football, competitive cheer, field hockey and volleyball would be canceled.
Plan Two - Flip the fall and spring seasons
Rather than crisp October Friday nights of high school football, be prepared for April showers on the gridiron. In this plan, fall sports would be played in the spring, and spring sports played in the fall. Under current restrictions, the only traditionally spring sports that could not be played would be boys and girls lacrosse. This plan would give a chance for football to played if restrictions are eased by the time we reach Spring 2021.
Plan Three - No sports until December
The final plan would pause the start of high school sports in Virginia until December. In this model, winter sports would happen first, followed by fall sports, than spring sports. The goal of this plan is to not have to cancel any sport’s season. While no seasons would be lost, each would be truncated to about 60% of its traditional length.
- Winter Sports - December 14 – February 20 (First Contest Date – December 28)
- Fall Sports - February 15 – May 1 (First Contest Date – March 1)
- Spring Sports - April 12 – June 26 (First Contest Date – April 26)
The next step in this process is for the VHSL to vote on a plan.
That vote is scheduled to take place on July 27.
Here’s a more detailed look at the plans: