By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

  

             The plan was to talk, not vote, at the GHSA’s Board of Trustees meeting Monday afternoon at the office in Thomaston.

          There was so much talk, though, that a vote did take place, and the board went against the recommendation – for the second time this summer – of executive director Robin Hines and voted 8-4 to not stay on course and to begin discussions of alternative scheduling.

          The board voted for a full 10-game regular season and five-week playoff, with the season to start Sept. 4, two weeks later.  The practice schedule, however, remains intact, with scrimmages allowed on Aug. 21 and 28.

          Also, it plans for volleyball, softball, and cross country to start on time. A meeting with the GHSA’s sports medicine advisory council on Wednesday, however, remains still very important, with updates expected.

          As per minutes released soon after the meeting by the GHSA, Walton parent Amy Henry addressed the board to basically state “the importance of sports to kids in high school and how the benefits of playing sports outweighed the risks associated with Covid 19.”

          Board member and Fulton County athletics director Steven Craft got the discussion going toward a two-week delay for the start of football, and Jasper Jewell of Atlanta Public Schools said APS might bow out of the fall completely if not for a slight delay.

          Kevin Petroski of Athens Academy pointed out how a delay would put more of an overlap of football with winter sports, which would affect smaller schools that rely more on multiple-sport athletes.

          The full range of discussion topics were then bandied about before Jesse Crews made a motion to stick with the schedule and it failed 8-4, Mary Persons’ principal Jim Finch voting against and at-large member Michelle Masters of Peach County voting for.

          GHSA president Glenn White, after more debate, moved to push the season back two weeks, and that vote was unanimous.

          Volleyball, softball, and cross country will start on time. All three can start practice on Aug. 1, with softball games starting on Aug. 6, and Aug. 10 for volleyball and cross country.

          Finch had a good hunch that discussion would lead to some action.

          “I had too many people calling me, saying, ‘Look, we don’t want to cancel the season, but we think we need a little bit more time to get ready,’” said Finch, who was an assistant football coach for several years at Peach County. “ ‘We had an abbreviated offseason program, didn’t have any spring football, didn’t start working out until June 8.’

          “The padded camps and 7-on-7s, that stuff hadn’t occurred.”

          Finch said the tone of the entire meeting was calm and efficient, and agreement on the two-week delay came fairly easily.

          “I think that makes them feel a little better, that none of the games got cut or anything like that,” Finch said. “It’s still a full season.”

          The meeting lasted about three hours.

          Back in May, Hines preferred to start the first round of any activity, football conditioning, on June 1, but board members pushed for more time and voted to start on June 8. That had no effect on the late-summer schedule, and the GHSA opened up nearly each week what football teams were able to do.

          Monday’s meeting came on the first day member football teams can use helmets on a limited basis in workouts, and less than a month before the first football games were scheduled.

          On Aug. 20, Central and Howard were set to be the first Central Georgia teams on the field, at renovated Henderson Stadium. There are several games, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association website, on Aug. 19.

          August 21 was the first full week of action. The Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic at Mercer – with ACE vs. FPD and Warner Robins vs. Valdosta – was scheduled for Aug. 22.

          The conditioning/acclimation period is to start on July 27 and the first full practice on Aug. 1, and that schedule remains in place.

          There is little uniformity at this point throughout the state’s school districts on how and when they’re starting. Dates have been pushed back, and there is in-school, virtual, and a combination.

          School systems may opt with withhold teams from competition based on local COVID numbers.

          Riverside Military Academy has already canceled fall sports, doing so in mid May.

          The state championships, expected to be held again at Georgia State, were scheduled for Dec. 10-12. The new plan pushes them to Christmas weekend, Christmas on a Saturday. That is likely to be adjusted.

          The GHSA has determined activities can take place as normal if classes are virtual. Hines said two weeks ago last week on a podcast that if students are eligible and enrolled, participation rules are normal, regardless how of how the classes are structured.

          Needless to say, it’s the busiest and most stressful summer in memory for state high school associations.

          California announced on Monday it was pushing back the start of football practice until mid December with the first week of games on Jan. 8. All fall sports are delayed.

          A little more than a dozen states have pushed back the fall schedule in some form or fashion.

          According to HighSchoolFootballAmerica.com as of early Monday afternoon: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas (private and parochial schools), Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

          Tennessee’s Board of Control is meeting on Wednesday, but the agenda regards reclassification. It is still in the decision-making mode. The state starts its acclimation period this week, but an updated emergency order has altered the practice schedule

          Florida’s Board of Directors met for nearly five hours Monday night, and ended up changing little. A sports medicine meeting is later this week, and could be interesting as well.

Texas ended up with no announcement from its meeting Monday.