More signs are pointing toward high school sports being on this fall in Pennsylvania.
The PIAA board of directors will vote Friday on whether to have sports, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But after two meetings Monday and Tuesday, the ball seems to have been moved forward even more in favor of the PIAA’s desire to have fall sports.
The PIAA sports medicine advisory committee met Monday night, and while there was discussion on various topics, including possible new requirements for an athlete’s medical physical, PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said the committee also decided to stick by a recommendation it made in July.
That recommendation stated “a strict adherence by schools and teams to their school-adopted plans and the governor’s School Sports Guidance should provide a reasonably safe environment for student-athletes to participate in interscholastic athletics as currently scheduled.”
Then on Tuesday, Lombardi had a Zoom meeting with the Pennsylvania athletic oversight committee, which comprises six state legislators and oversees the workings of the PIAA. Lombardi made comments that strongly indicate the PIAA wants to have fall sports and that schools around the state can decide whether to participate.
“I got the impression from the oversight committee that they were pretty supportive [of having fall sports]. That was my interpretation,” Lombardi said.
He also brought up some statistics that were provided to the PIAA by athletic trainers, the PIAA sports medicine committee and UPMC.
“Those numbers I gave you, that out of 30,000 screenings (of athletes), there were only four positive tests? That’s pretty compelling to me,” Lombardi said.
North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto, president-elect of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association, also spoke to the oversight committee and said fall sports should be played. Sean McAleer, director of education for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, said the Catholic Conference believes the decisions to allow fall sports should be left up to the PIAA, local leagues and school administrators.
But Lee Ann Wentzel, superintendent of the Ridley School District near Philadelphia, cautioned the oversight committee that extreme thought should be given to many factors when deciding to start fall sports. She pointed out that a survey of some Pennsylvania superintendents showed they were “fairly split” on whether to have all fall sports. But she said more than 75% of the superintendents favored moving some contact sports, such as football, to the spring.
The PIAA board voted July 31 to delay the start of high school sports practices for two weeks after Gov. Tom Wolf made a recommendation that all sports — school and recreation — be postponed until Jan. 1. The Pennsylvania departments of health and education backed up Wolf’s claim and said schools should be the ones to make the decision of whether to have fall sports.
The PIAA met with staff from the governor’s office last Friday, and Lombardi strongly indicated that the PIAA would ultimately decide to have fall sports.
“The only wrong decision is if we don’t give it a try,” Lombardi said.
In a news conference Tuesday, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine was asked if Wolf would ever change his no sports recommendation to a mandate.
“The governor has been very clear about that,” Levine said. “There are no plans to do that.”
The PIAA board of directors meeting is at 3 p.m. Friday.
“I think everybody is well-versed in what the issue is,” Lombardi said. “I think most district people around the state have talked to their schools, and other people have talked to their constituencies. Now, we’ll see what the board decides.”
