The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) released its updated guidelines for youth and adult amateur sports on Thursday, specifically noting the modifications that sports will have to make in order to be safely played. The guidance will complement the forthcoming recommendations from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on how K-12 schools can safely administer sports, which is set to be released within the next 24-72 hours. Once the DESE recommendations come in, the MIAA Board of Directors and the MIAA COVID-19 Task Force will then meet to make a decision on what to do about fall sports. 

The MIAA also released a statement saying that the Board of Directors will meet no later than three business days after the release of the DESE guidance. 

The guidance begins by addressing which sports fall into which categories, with no changes coming since the last update. As of now, the sports are categorized as follows: 

— Low Risk (golf, cross country, crew, individual swimming, tennis, biking, surfing, gymnastics)

— Moderate Risk (baseball, softball, soccer, field hockey, team swimming, track and field, fencing, girls lacrosse)

— High Risk (football, basketball, boys lacrosse, ice hockey, wrestling, competitive cheer, martial arts)

There was also no change in the four levels of play for each risk category: 

— Level 1: Individual or socially distanced group activities (no-contact workouts, aerobic

conditioning, individual skill work, and drills)

— Level 2: Competitive Practices (Intra-team/group games, contact drills and scrimmages) 

— Level 3: Competitions (Inter-team games, meets, matches, races, etc.)

— Level 4: Tournaments (Outdoor only)

Sports in the “Lower Risk” category will be allowed to participate in all levels of play, but after that is where the updated guidance kicks in. 

Sports in the “Moderate Risk” category are allowed to participate in Level 1 of play as traditionally played, and will only be allowed to participate in Levels 2 and 3 if the new Minimum Mandatory Standards for Modifications to Play are instituted. Sports in the “High Risk” category face the same standards as sports in the “Moderate Risk” category.

These new Minimum Mandatory Standards for Modifications to Play are defined as follows: 

— Identify measures that can be implemented to significantly limit contact and increase physical distancing. Modify play and practice as much as possible to keep players spaced six feet apart for the majority of a game or practice.

— Conduct the activity or sport outdoors where possible, as outdoor participation is generally safer than indoors and allows for greater distancing.

— Shorten activities, practices, and game play or perform the activity with fewer participants to the extent possible.

— Modify the activity or sport to reduce the sharing of equipment or to allow for cleaning of shared equipment between participants.

— Incorporate protective equipment in a safe manner to further reduce the spread of respiratory

particles.

For “Moderate Risk” and “High Risk” sports, the guidance says that the mandatory modifications should strive to keep participants six feet apart for the majority of play and must eliminate all deliberate contact. Such modifications include, for example:

— Stagger Starts: In race-like activities where players typically start or finish together, modifications must include staggered starts to avoid close contact. Starting lines should also be adjusted to allow for six feet distancing between participants at the start (e.g., have runners in every other lane, spacing competitors on start line six feet apart). If space is limited, staggered start times should be used to allow appropriate spacing for participants for each starting group.

— Eliminate Deliberate Contact: Deliberate close contact must be eliminated. Deliberate close contact includes but is not limited to collisions, body checking, tackling, blocking, and racing/riding in packs.

— Minimize Intermittent Contact: Game situations that result in intermittent close physical or face-to-face contact must be modified or eliminated, including: restarts, faceoffs, throw-ins, scrums for the ball/puck, or similar activities. These activities may be allowed if face masks are used during contact (e.g., face-offs could take place with face masks worn by each player involved).

Sports that cannot modify play as outlined above will not be allowed to engage in Level 3 play but may be able to participate in Level 2 play if they can incorporate the following modifications: 

— Training activities must be performed in “cohorts” of the same small group of individuals that performs all training activities together and without interacting with other individuals or cohorts.

— Cohorts can be no larger than 10 participants and the same cohort assignments must be used for every training session or class. Participants cannot be a member of multiple cohorts, nor can cohort assignments rotate.

— Training areas or boundaries must be marked so that training cohorts are separated in all directions by at least 14 feet. Class sizes should be capped by the number of available training areas based on the size of the facility and in no event more than 25 people on a playing surface.

— A cohort can compete against other cohorts if each cohort performs separately from other cohorts (e.g., pair figure skating, or small group synchronized swimming) and no contact occurs between cohorts.

The new modifications that have been put in place will likely have a direct on what sports can be played during the fall season. Based on the recommendations, golf and cross country appear to have the best chance of being played, while football currently has the lowest chance. Sports such as soccer and field hockey, which fall into the “Moderate Risk” category, are in more of a limbo state.

“I think it’s all kind of what we expected would be released,” said Swampscott athletic director Kelly Farley. “It definitely makes you wonder what’s next, and it’s going to be pretty tough for the fall season because a lot of the sports involve contact. But at the same time, we’re still holding out hope. Nothing’s been canceled yet, so we’re just waiting to see what happens.”