STATE OF FLORIDA – After almost five hours in meeting, the FHSAA Board of Directors have made their decision regarding the status of the 2020 fall sports season.
In a 10-5 vote decision, the Board of Directors voted to keep the fall schedule the same, including the postseason. Schools that are unable to begin their seasons on time and are, in turn, ineligible for the playoffs, will be able to play extra regular season or exhibition games into the FHSAA State Playoffs.
The motion was filed by Bobby Johns, the athletic director at Wewahitchka High School.
Despite a push from Lauren Otero, the president of the FHSAA Task Force and athletic director at H.B. Plant High School (Tampa), the FHSAA will not mandate a questionnaire be filled out by athletes or coaches, as recommended by the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC). The motion failed by a 12-4 vote.
Although the FHSAA’s decision means that football practices can begin officially on July 27, the final decision will be made by the county school boards.
In the case of Palm Beach County, high school football likely will not begin on the scheduled day of July 27. At the time of writing, Palm Beach County has 26,424 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Earlier in the month, the School District of Palm Beach County voted to begin the 2020 school year online. A vote for the start of the academic year has not yet taken place.
The decision to stick with the fall sports schedule goes against a SMAC Committee report that was filed earlier in the day. The SMAC voted unanimously to delay the start of the football and volleyball seasons until further notice.
According to the SMAC report, certain guidelines must have been met in order to resume athletics. Those benchmarks include: a downward trajectory of COVID-19 cases, less than 5 percent positive COVID-19 cases, and a required two weeks of practice before the start of competition.
The SMAC said sports that were not deemed high risk would be able to continue as scheduled, as long as they followed the guidelines. Those remaining sports were swimming, diving, cross country, golf, and bowling.
The FHSAA Board of Directors intend to meet at a later date to further discuss the SMAC report.
PHOTO CREDIT: FHSAA
