The MIAA Board of Directors made the winter season official Friday afternoon, voting by a margin of 20-1 to push the start of the season back from Nov. 30 to Dec. 14 during a virtual meeting. Practices for winter sports will begin Dec. 14, while games will be allowed to start 10 games after that. Individual leagues will have the option to play over the Christmas break or begin playing games following the return to classes in January.
The reasoning behind pushing the start date for practices to Dec. 14 was because it is two weeks after Thanksgiving, allowing schools to deal with potential spikes in cases following family gatherings if that comes up.
Following a separate series of votes, the Board of Directors decided to allow basketball, ice hockey, swimming and diving, gymnastics, alpine skiing and nordic skiing to have seasons. Indoor track was pushed back to the “Fall Sports II” season, while wrestling was pushed back to spring to make way for a potential outdoor season.
For basketball, the only safety modification that was debated was the recommendation of limiting the gameday roster limit to 12 players, down from 15. After some debate, the Board of Directors voted 11-8 to amend the modification to allow for 15 players on the gameday roster, which will now go to the MIAA Sports Medicine Committee for approval. The rest of the basketball modifications were approved by a unanimous vote of 20-0.
For ice hockey, most of the safety modifications centered around protocols in the locker room and on the bench. After adding one recommendation — that “rink design, respective of social distancing, may dictate total players that may participate in a contest” — the Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve the ice hockey modifications.
The recommendation for moving indoor track to “Fall Sports II” was made because facilities, including the Reggie Lewis Center, are closed. The Board of Directors clarified that individual schools and districts would be allowed to decide to run indoor track, but they would have to petition their District Athletic Committee.
MIAA Assistant Executive Director Phil Napolitano noted that the rationale for moving wrestling to the spring is based on the notion the sport may have to be moved outdoors. The Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) says that other high-risk sports with constant contact — such football and rugby — can be held since they are outdoors. If it comes to it, wrestling programs in Massachusetts would attempt to stage outdoor matches in the spring.
The Board of Directors also unanimously approved the safety modifications for swimming and diving, gymnastics, alpine skiing and nordic skiing.