Newly released plan devised by OSAA pushes sports back

Fall sports are set to begin on March 1, followed by spring (April 12) and winter (May 17)

Bryan A. Rector, Sports Editor|December 7, 2020

After much adjudication by the board members and much anticipation from communities across the state, the OSAA has announced a relatively expected move to push sports and activities back into the Spring. Upon completion of a vote today, it was determined that there is no place for sports in high school just yet. This decision was reached and is largely justified based around the fact that 25 of the 36 counties in Oregon amongst the “extreme risk” ranks. OSAA executive director Peter Weber seems to think that this move is calculated as well sighting the increase in virus cases through the fall- “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.”

The concept of restarting sports has been described as a “moving target” in some ways because the time left in the academic year is running out at a rampant pace. On the flip side of that, there are still a multitude of chances to return to the “green numbers” as it were with a low lying winter break and such. It is also said that this timeframe goes hand in hand with a reasonable reintroduction of students to school. There are lots of questions that remain unanswered, but until then, here are some of the pressing details regarding the new plan:

Fall sports are set to begin on March 1, spring on April 12, and winter on May 17.

Season one will be reopened and extending, lifting restrictions on out of season coaching.

Each season will be reduced to 6 weeks as opposed to 7.