The South Carolina High School League has pushed back the start of fall sports practices by three weeks.
The Executive Committee voted unanimously (18-0) to push back the start of football practice Sept. 8 with games starting Sept. 25. The original start date had been Aug. 17. Playoff qualifiers, which consist of top two teams in their respective regions, would start Nov. 13 with the state championships being held Dec. 4 and 5.
Practices for golf, swimming, tennis would start Aug. 17. Cross country and volleyball would start practice Aug. 24 and competitive cheer would start Sept. 8. Regular season would go between five and eight weeks depending on the sport. For most sports – golf, tennis, cross-country, volleyball and football – regular seasons would be seven weeks. Cheer would be eight weeks and swim would be five weeks. Middle schools and JV teams are to follow the same dates.
Playoffs/qualifiers would start for golf and tennis Oct. 19 and state finals would be Oct 26-27 for golf and Oct. 31 for tennis. Volleyball playoffs would start Oct. 27 with state finals being Nov. 4-7 and cross-country qualifiers would start Oct. 30-31, with state finals being Nov. 6-7. Cheer qualifiers would start Dec. 7-12 with state finals being Dec. 15-19. Football, volleyball and tennis will have a maximum of four rounds of playoffs. Cross-country and cheer will have a reduction in number of participants for their qualifiers. Swimming and golf will have no reduction in teams at their state finals.
Football teams that don’t make the playoffs will be allowed to have one additional game, but they must finish no later than Nov. 20.
Like always, SCHSL director Jerome Singleton said nothing is set.
“We will continue to move it over time,” Singleton said. “This is fluid and could move.”
Members of the Executive Committee praised the 24-page plan by the SCHSL saying that it provides the flexibility needed for returning to play.
“Flexibility is key,” said Dr. Darryl Owings, Spartanburg School District Six Superintendent. “We need to focus on kids, not politics, etc. and have them compete in a safe manner.”
Teams are currently in Phase 1.5, but can move on to regular practice as if they were under normal operations when their practice date rolls around. For example, football teams will be allowed to start wearing helmets Aug. 17 under Phase 1.5. They will move to helmets and pads Sept. 8 and full pads Sept. 10.
Also, in the plan it states that coaches and administrators take a mandatory COVID-19 online course from the National Federation of High Schools.
The Executive Committee also voted that there would be no penalty for games or seasons cancelled because of COVID-19 related issues and on a separate vote, voted to have the league staff make a proposal to the S.C. Department of Commerce to have seating capacity restrictions at games. The current maximum is now 250 fans.
The Appellate Panel was going to consider the Lexington School District One plan Aug. 10 about flipping the spring and fall seasons, but Lexington dropped their appeal.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
