Officials say it’s too early to make concrete decisions;
board approves some changes in spring football workouts
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) didn’t address down-the-road plans for dealing with the coronavirus on Wednesday, saying there’s too much uncertainty to put a full plan in place.
TUCKER
After a two-day virtual meeting of the board of directors, NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker released this statement via e-mail to the media:
“The NCHSAA Board of Directors discussed the COVID-19 crisis at length.
“We remind our schools, coaches and teams that we are acting as if we are in a “dead period” for all in-person activities. These restrictions remain in place until further notice.
“Virtual communication and activities to maintain relationships within teams is encouraged, but no in-person activities are permitted.
“We understand that many people are interested in how schools and teams can get back to workouts, practices and competition. At this time, it is premature to speculate on a return date and whether or not the fall season will be impacted by COVID-19.
“We will continue to listen to the advice and mandates of our state’s governor, Department of Health and Human Services, and medical advisors to inform our decisions going forward.
“Any decision made by the (NCHSAA) Board of Directors and staff at a future date will be guided by those sources of information, erring on the side of health and safety.”
Other key decisions by the board:
Football
Scrimmage time will decline by two hours (seven to five) with a mandatory 48 hours between scrimmages (would not apply to teams participating in a multi-session jamboree).
Live contact time between players in the first practices for the first game week will be limited to 15 minutes a day per position group. That changes to 15 minutes per week once the regular season begins.
Full speed drills, scrimmages between offense and defense or other situations involving tackling or other game-like conditions are considered live action contact.
Also, adjustments will be made for spring football.
“The coaches said they needed a way to evaluate their players going into summer,” NCHSAA Assistant Commissioner for Sports and Championships Tra Waters said. “So they’ve come up with terminology called ‘bump’ … which allows the drills to occur that are full speed until the moment of contact.”
“‘Bumps’ won’t result in players being tackled or other similar contact, Waters said.
The ‘bump’ rule is limited to 60 minutes, starting April 15, and continues until the last 10 student days of a semester. It won’t be in force in any other spring or summer workouts.
Soccer
State playoff matches will now be played on Mondays and Thursdays in the early rounds.
A tie can occur in regular-season matches after two 10-minute overtimes. In the past, ties weren’t allowed and all matches had to have a declared winner.
Other moves
— Approved funds of more than $120,000 to distribute to member schools through the NCHSAA Grant Program.
— Approved a requirement that indoor track and cross county coaches must attend an NCHSAA clinic.
— Approved change in number of swimmers qualifying for the state championship meet from eight to six in each region (24 total qualifiers). The final six spots will be based on best remaining times in any region.
— Approved changing first practice and first competition dates for winter sports. New dates are Nov. 2 for first practice, Nov. 21 for first games.
— Approved allowing wrestling teams not in the dual-team state playoffs to compete in one multi-team event on Friday or Saturday after the dual-team brackets are released.
— Approved indoor track having three meets per week.
— Approved requiring all coaches having 24 hours after a match is completed to enter all yellow and red card data in MaxPreps.
— Approved increasing ticket costs for the cross country state championships from $6 to $8 and dual-team entry (all rounds) is going up $2.
