A slew of topics – including eliminating postseason tournaments – were voted on by the MIAA’s board of directors during a teleconference Thursday concerning the upcoming winter high school sports season.
The board of directors unanimously approved that the winter season will begin on Nov. 30, pending the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) releases its guidance on winter sports by Nov. 9. The EEA is expected to release its guidance for the winter season, and which sports can or can’t be played, sometime next week. The BOD voted to hold a meeting within three days of the EEA’s release in order to move forward with winter sports guidance.
The winter sports approval process will begin with individual sport committees presenting proposed guidance and modifications within three days of the EEA guidance. The Sports Medicine Committee will then present viable winter sports and their modifications to the MIAA’s COVID-19 Task Force, which will recommend the sports to the board of directors. The BOD will ultimately vote on the COVID-19 Task Force’s recommendations.
Like in the fall season, school committees will likely need to vote on whether sports are viable for their individual districts. Regionalization and “bubble leagues” will likely be the path for the winter season, similar to what happened this fall.
If the EEA does not release its guidelines by Nov. 9, the winter season may be delayed a week.
The BOD voted unanimously to make Feb. 21 the final date of competition, coinciding with February vacation for most districts.
Following last week’s vote by the Tournament Management Committee to recommend eliminating all MIAA postseason tournaments this winter, the board of directors agreed and confirmed that proposal via a 20-0 vote. The vote officially cancels all statewide postseason tournaments for the winter season, though areas throughout the state still have the ability to hold local or sectional tournaments at the end of the regular season.
The final discussion of Thursday’s meeting centered around the experimental change put forward to allow basketball players to participate in six quarters of action, not including overtime, in one day between junior varsity and varsity. Previously, that total was four quarters. For example, if an athlete played two quarters of junior varsity action in a basketball game, that player was eligible to play two quarters during the varsity game on the same day. Under the new rule, a player can split the six quarters between the two levels.
The BOD voted unanimously to extend this experimental change for the upcoming season, on a one-year trial basis.