OSAA delays Oregon high school wrestling to start May 10 and end a six-week season in late June
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by OSAA
by Jerry Ulmer, OSAAtoday
In a much-anticipated move, the OSAA on Monday decided to push back the start of its sports seasons as it continues to navigate the COVID-19 crisis.
The executive board moved to adopt a three-season plan with six-week seasons, starting with fall sports contests March 1 and followed by spring (April 12) and winter (May 17). The seasons include an “opt-in culminating week,” an option for postseason competition.
Fall sports practices are scheduled to begin Feb. 22, except for football, which will start Feb. 8. Spring and winter practices begin April 5 and May 10, respectively.
Editor's Note: This means that wrestling will begin practices on May 10, with a first day of competition on May 17. The six-week season will end in late June.
“It's a moving target,” OSAA executive director Peter Weber said of altering the calendar. “We needed to make a decision. I think the board made the right decision.”
The board voted in August for a plan that opened with winter sports practices Dec. 28, hopeful that state guidance would allow for schools to return to in-person learning. But virus cases have increased throughout the fall, with 25 of the 36 counties – and all but 42 member schools – currently in the “extreme-risk” category.
“All of our conversations with the Oregon Health Authority, and following the news, it appears that the models are showing that things are going to get worse before they get better,” Weber said. “As we're looking to provide as much time as possible to lower case counts -- and get counties out of the extreme-risk level, if possible -- we thought that this timeline made sense.”
Considering many districts end their first semester in early February, Weber said that moving the start to late February is potentially a good fit for schools that could return to in-person learning. Also, the weather later in February would better accommodate the outdoor fall sports.
The previous plan had seven-week seasons, plus the culminating week. The new plan calls for six-week seasons that include the culminating week.
“Obviously, they're shorter seasons, but they also provide three distinct seasons and continue an opportunity for all kids to be involved, hopefully,” Weber said. “It's shorter than we would like, and not as soon as we would like, but we feel like it's realistic and something that we can put into place.”
The board also considered a two-season plan with nine-week seasons. In that plan, the first season (February to April) would have included fall sports, golf and swimming, and the second season (April to June) would have had spring sports, basketball and wrestling.
Ultimately, the board believed that stacking sports would have created too much difficulty for smaller schools.
“While there was some support for the idea that there would be longer seasons, and provide some flexiblity, in the end, the stacking of sports on top of one another was difficult for the board to move beyond,” Weber said.
The board also approved extending the current Season 1 period, which lifts restrictions for out of season coaching, through Feb. 21.
OFFICIAL OSAA PRESS RELEASE
OSAA ADJUSTS 20‐21 CALENDAR FOR ALL ACTIVITIES
New plan pushes start date to February, swaps seasons around and extends Season 1 opportunities
December 7, 2020 – (Wilsonville, OR)
The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) Executive Board has revised the Association’s calendar to start activities in February. The OSAA Executive Board was hopeful that the state’s landscape was going to improve when it adopted the current calendar back in August, but that has not proven to be the case as COVID‐19 cases continue to rise, county risk level metrics have changed and restrictions on prohibited activities have not been lifted by the Governor’s Office and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
“Today’s decision by the Executive Board is another reminder of the impact the pandemic has had on Oregon students and schools,” said Peter Weber, OSAA Executive Director. “While disappointed that we need to adjust our original schedule, we believe that keeping three distinct seasons, albeit in shortened seasons, maintains potential opportunities for all students moving forward.”
Board members made it clear during with comments during the meeting that the OSAA and its member schools are bound by the rules, regulations, and guidance set forth by the Governor’s Office and the OHA. Neither the OSAA Executive Board nor the OSAA Executive Director are able to waive state mandates or provide exceptions for certain activities or counties in the state. The OSAA staff continues to be in contact with the Governor’s Office, OHA and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to advocate for a safe return to in‐person learning and high school activities.
In the revised calendar adopted today, Fall sports are moved to Season 2 and will begin in February with multiple activities permitted by state guidance. This allows time for case counts to decrease in the new year and for counties to subsequently move out of the Extreme Risk category. Cross Country and Soccer, as outdoor sports, are permitted by the Governor’s Office and OHA in all counties. As an indoor activity, Volleyball is tied to the Governor’s County Risk Level Guidance and only allowed in those counties deemed as Lower, Moderate, or High Risk. Full contact football remains on the Governor’s prohibited list of activities at this time. Discussions around possibly moving Football later in the year were not supported at this time due to concerns expressed by the OSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) regarding the impact that a later contact football season would require modifications to the Fall 2021 football season.
Season 3 features the traditional Spring activities (Baseball, Softball, Golf, Tennis and Track & Field), all of which are permitted by state guidance as outdoor activities. These will begin April 5 and extend into the third week in May.
The sports calendar wraps up with Season 4 and traditional winter sports (Swimming, Basketball and Wrestling) beginning in mid‐May and extending into late June. The shift of wrestling and basketball to the end of the calendar provides the most runway for their prohibition to be lifted by the state. The OSAA has been given no indication that a change will be made in this designation but remains hopeful that a change could occur prior to Season 4. Swimming is currently allowed outdoors for all counties and indoors for those counties not in the Extreme Risk metric.
The activities schedule was revised to allow more time for school buildings to be accessible to their programs. Activities like Choir and Band/Orchestra have been pushed back to the end of the school year to provide their programs the opportunity to rehearse in person if school district policy allows. Cheerleading and Dance/Drill culminating weeks have also been adjusted to allow more time for facilities to open or have weather improve enough to move outdoors.
The Executive Board also voted to extend Season 1 through February 21, 2021 to allow training, workouts and even competitions to occur in those areas of the state that are allowed per the Governor’s Office, OHA guidance, and local school district policy. The Board plans to revisit participation limitations for all seasons, out‐of‐season coaching policies for Season 2, 3, and 4, and the need for further decisions as a result of updated state guidance or changing risk level metrics at upcoming work sessions.
In a much-anticipated move, the OSAA on Monday decided to push back the start of its sports seasons as it continues to navigate the COVID-19 crisis.
The executive board moved to adopt a three-season plan with six-week seasons, starting with fall sports contests March 1 and followed by spring (April 12) and winter (May 17). The seasons include an “opt-in culminating week,” an option for postseason competition.
Fall sports practices are scheduled to begin Feb. 22, except for football, which will start Feb. 8. Spring and winter practices begin April 5 and May 10, respectively.
Editor's Note: This means that wrestling will begin practices on May 10, with a first day of competition on May 17. The six-week season will end in late June.
“It's a moving target,” OSAA executive director Peter Weber said of altering the calendar. “We needed to make a decision. I think the board made the right decision.”
The board voted in August for a plan that opened with winter sports practices Dec. 28, hopeful that state guidance would allow for schools to return to in-person learning. But virus cases have increased throughout the fall, with 25 of the 36 counties – and all but 42 member schools – currently in the “extreme-risk” category.
“All of our conversations with the Oregon Health Authority, and following the news, it appears that the models are showing that things are going to get worse before they get better,” Weber said. “As we're looking to provide as much time as possible to lower case counts -- and get counties out of the extreme-risk level, if possible -- we thought that this timeline made sense.”
Considering many districts end their first semester in early February, Weber said that moving the start to late February is potentially a good fit for schools that could return to in-person learning. Also, the weather later in February would better accommodate the outdoor fall sports.
The previous plan had seven-week seasons, plus the culminating week. The new plan calls for six-week seasons that include the culminating week.
“Obviously, they're shorter seasons, but they also provide three distinct seasons and continue an opportunity for all kids to be involved, hopefully,” Weber said. “It's shorter than we would like, and not as soon as we would like, but we feel like it's realistic and something that we can put into place.”
The board also considered a two-season plan with nine-week seasons. In that plan, the first season (February to April) would have included fall sports, golf and swimming, and the second season (April to June) would have had spring sports, basketball and wrestling.
Ultimately, the board believed that stacking sports would have created too much difficulty for smaller schools.
“While there was some support for the idea that there would be longer seasons, and provide some flexiblity, in the end, the stacking of sports on top of one another was difficult for the board to move beyond,” Weber said.
The board also approved extending the current Season 1 period, which lifts restrictions for out of season coaching, through Feb. 21.
OFFICIAL OSAA PRESS RELEASE
OSAA ADJUSTS 20‐21 CALENDAR FOR ALL ACTIVITIES
New plan pushes start date to February, swaps seasons around and extends Season 1 opportunities
December 7, 2020 – (Wilsonville, OR)
The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) Executive Board has revised the Association’s calendar to start activities in February. The OSAA Executive Board was hopeful that the state’s landscape was going to improve when it adopted the current calendar back in August, but that has not proven to be the case as COVID‐19 cases continue to rise, county risk level metrics have changed and restrictions on prohibited activities have not been lifted by the Governor’s Office and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
“Today’s decision by the Executive Board is another reminder of the impact the pandemic has had on Oregon students and schools,” said Peter Weber, OSAA Executive Director. “While disappointed that we need to adjust our original schedule, we believe that keeping three distinct seasons, albeit in shortened seasons, maintains potential opportunities for all students moving forward.”
Board members made it clear during with comments during the meeting that the OSAA and its member schools are bound by the rules, regulations, and guidance set forth by the Governor’s Office and the OHA. Neither the OSAA Executive Board nor the OSAA Executive Director are able to waive state mandates or provide exceptions for certain activities or counties in the state. The OSAA staff continues to be in contact with the Governor’s Office, OHA and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to advocate for a safe return to in‐person learning and high school activities.
In the revised calendar adopted today, Fall sports are moved to Season 2 and will begin in February with multiple activities permitted by state guidance. This allows time for case counts to decrease in the new year and for counties to subsequently move out of the Extreme Risk category. Cross Country and Soccer, as outdoor sports, are permitted by the Governor’s Office and OHA in all counties. As an indoor activity, Volleyball is tied to the Governor’s County Risk Level Guidance and only allowed in those counties deemed as Lower, Moderate, or High Risk. Full contact football remains on the Governor’s prohibited list of activities at this time. Discussions around possibly moving Football later in the year were not supported at this time due to concerns expressed by the OSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) regarding the impact that a later contact football season would require modifications to the Fall 2021 football season.
Season 3 features the traditional Spring activities (Baseball, Softball, Golf, Tennis and Track & Field), all of which are permitted by state guidance as outdoor activities. These will begin April 5 and extend into the third week in May.
The sports calendar wraps up with Season 4 and traditional winter sports (Swimming, Basketball and Wrestling) beginning in mid‐May and extending into late June. The shift of wrestling and basketball to the end of the calendar provides the most runway for their prohibition to be lifted by the state. The OSAA has been given no indication that a change will be made in this designation but remains hopeful that a change could occur prior to Season 4. Swimming is currently allowed outdoors for all counties and indoors for those counties not in the Extreme Risk metric.
The activities schedule was revised to allow more time for school buildings to be accessible to their programs. Activities like Choir and Band/Orchestra have been pushed back to the end of the school year to provide their programs the opportunity to rehearse in person if school district policy allows. Cheerleading and Dance/Drill culminating weeks have also been adjusted to allow more time for facilities to open or have weather improve enough to move outdoors.
The Executive Board also voted to extend Season 1 through February 21, 2021 to allow training, workouts and even competitions to occur in those areas of the state that are allowed per the Governor’s Office, OHA guidance, and local school district policy. The Board plans to revisit participation limitations for all seasons, out‐of‐season coaching policies for Season 2, 3, and 4, and the need for further decisions as a result of updated state guidance or changing risk level metrics at upcoming work sessions.
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