ROANOKE, Va. – The Roanoke County school board will make a decision during its meeting next Thursday on whether middle and high school fall sports will play a “County-only” schedule or a “District-wide” slate. If it’s decided upon to play District schedules, teams would be required to meet the protocols that each district sets out. Each districts protocols are said to be released on Thursday, one week prior to when the County has decided to make a decision. The 5 Roanoke County high schools are spread out across Blue RIdge, River Ridge and Three Rivers Districts. AdThe school board still sees the importance of sports in order to create a sense of normalcy for student-athletes.

ROANOKE, Va. – It’s official, the VHSL Executive Committee has approved the “Championships +1” voted upon in July. On Wednesday afternoon, the committee approved the plan that looks to not cancel any individual sports during the 2020-2021 school year. Here’s how the three seasons will look. Winter Sports - December 7 – February 20 (First Contest Date – December 21) Basketball, gymnastics, indoor track, swimming/diving and wrestlingFall Sports - February 4 – May 1 (First Contest Date – March 1) Cheerleading, cross country, field hockey, football, golf and volleyballSpring Sports - April 12 – June 26 (First Contest Date – April 26) Baseball, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis and track and fieldThis plan truncates seasons to about 60% of their original length. For high-risk sports to be played, Virginia would need to have fewer coronavirus restrictions in place.

HARRISONBURG, Va. – With more of an emphasis on the health and safety and student-athletes, personnel and campus environment, James Madison Athletics has announced the suspension of competition for all Fall sport programs. The suspension was made in coordination with other Colonial Athletic Association institutions that were previously still pursuing fall competition: College of Charleston, Elon and UNCW. JMU initially elected to proceed with carrying out a plan to return-to-play in alignment with the NCAA championship calendar. As the national picture came into focus over the last week, it became clear that Fall competition would not be possible. If we can do that, we’ll be back to sport competition in the near future.

ROANOKE, Va. Sorry sports fans and athletes, youll need to a little while longer for high school sports to begin. The plan, approved 34-1, was one of three options presented earlier this month for high school sports to happen in Virginia. 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)This plan truncates seasons to about 60% of their original length. For high-risk sports to be played, Virginia would need to have fewer coronavirus restrictions in place. Had the sports seasons been flipped, both boys and girls lacrosse and boys and girls soccer seasons would have been canceled.

FOREST, Va. – The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Presidents Council voted to postpone conference competition and championships for fall and winter sports through the end of the 2020 calendar year The ODAC remains focused on providing meaningful competition for all student-athletes in 2020-21, which includes an intention to sponsor conference competition for fall and winter sports in the spring semester. “In light of the broader public health concerns surrounding athletic competitions, the well-being of our campuses and everyone involved in athletic competition made this decision the right one. ”The conference’s leadership worked extremely hard to explore ways we might have conducted conference championships and competition in the fall,” explained ODAC Commissioner Brad Bankston. The ODAC leadership will communicate further developments regarding competition in 2020-21 as solutions are finalized and implemented. ODAC member schools include Ferrum College, Hollins University, University of Lynchburg, Roanoke College, Sweet Briar College, Washington and Lee University and the football program at Southern Virginia University.

The VHSL Executive Committee meeting could not put forward a recommendation for fall sports schedules. We will have more data in four weeks, eight weeks than what we have right now. We have no idea what phase schools will be open-- what phases schools will be in when they open. Obviously you’ll be talking about reduced number of games, a reduced schedule, but season one really is your winter schedule, season two is your fall schedule, and season three is your spring sports,” Dr. Haun explained. Dr. Haun stressed that they are thinking “out of the box” just in case the fall season gets pushed back too far by the Covid-19 restrictions.

Before high school sports teams can begin practice an action plan must be submitted, and it has to be approved by the department of education... not the VHSL. “This is not just a plan for athletics, the plan that gets submitted is for summer school, if you’re going to bring students into your building. Any activity that you’re going to have in your building, whether its athletic or academic, you’re going to use that plan for everybody, explains VHSL Executive Director Dr. Billy Haun. The athletes may begin to workout with restrictions one day after the school district has submitted their plan to the state. And depending what those restrictions are, school districts may not be able to afford sports with restrictions in place.