WPIAL cuts football season to 7 games
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
After the PIAA issued its COVID-19 guidelines Wednesday, the WPIAL followed by announcing changes to the fall sports Friday.
Due to schools in the region being at “various stages” addressing the coronavirus crisis, the WPIAL board of directors unanimously approved the “hybrid start model,” according to a release from the organization.
Under the hybrid start, play can begin no later than Oct. 5 with various start dates approved and outlined by the WPIAL.
“Any time we have a workshop, it’s a long day in itself,” said Serra Catholic athletic director Bill Cleary, who is also a member of the board. “We had a bunch of plans laid out but we were waiting to see what the PIAA did.
“We had a Zoom meeting and it was about 2 1/2, 3 hours. We received a lot of great input and put the best information and ideas into our plan.”
Cleary said education clearly comes first for the WPIAL.
“The education of our student-athletes was first and foremost,” he said. “One reason we went with the hybrid is because it allows the kids to get acclimated with the way school and their education is going to work.
“Then athletically, we want to get back in a proper, most careful way. We really want the kids to get back into the swing of things being in school.”
The WPIAL outlined several benefits to the hybrid start in its release. It includes giving schools time to implement and perfect their health and safety plans, as well as develop procedures and strategies for hosting other schools at facilities. The plan also provides time for schools to gradually return with teams to in-person workouts if they haven’t started.
“We all felt horrible about what happened to our spring-sport athletes and we want to make sure we do everything we can to possibly avoid a total cancellation of sports in the fall,” Cleary explained.
“The reason was to let those schools have the time to get classes started,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said. “That was the biggest thing we were hearing from superintendents and principals. They needed some time to get things going before they added sports to the mix.”
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