Winter Sports Letter 2020

Winter Sports Letter
Posted on 11/24/2020
Runner

I realize that there may be some confusion about the starting date for winter sports, based on what the MIAA released on Friday. The MIAA voted on Friday to allow schools to start practicing on December 14th. Our local conference voted last week to start January 4th, despite what the MIAA was going to release. I know some people will wonder why we are doing things differently than what the MIAA guidelines suggest. Here is the reason, locally we have had a large number of COVID 19 cases in many communities. With the holiday season approaching, collectively our conference (which is 48 schools) thought it was prudent to get through the holiday season before we begin allowing practices. We couldn’t even get past Halloween without issues stemming from that weekend. We also have many schools who still need to obtain approval from their school committees to even offer winter sports which, as we learned this fall can take quite some time. The January 4th start date gives schools and districts ample time to address these two areas. This season will be different than the fall season as all athletic events will happen indoors. This creates a myriad of concern for many districts including ours. 

As was the case in the fall, we will now be working on creating protocols based on the sport- specific modifications that were approved yesterday. This will not be easy.  All sports have their concerns to deal with. The work now begins, as it did in the fall to do whatever it takes to ensure that our players, coaches and officials are as safe as can be.

I have attached a link to the MIAA’s COVID 19 Task Force’s page where the individual sport modifications are listed. http://miaa.net/contentm/easy_pages/view.php?sid=38&page_id=317

I would encourage you and your child to read through the information that applies to them. I will be holding Zoom meetings with our sports coaching staff to go over these modifications in the coming weeks so that we are prepared. Please know that a continued rise in COVID 19 cases could jeopardize our ability to make this work.

I hope this clarifies some of the confusion around the MIAA’s announcement Friday.  This is by no means “Mr. Shamgochian’s” decision, but a collective decision by our conference. Please reach out to me directly if you have any questions. I hope everyone has a safe and healthy holiday season.

 

Thanks,

Mr. Shamgochian

Director of Athletics

Ware Public Schools

978-407-6656 (cell)

413-967-6234 X4228 (office)