By: Chris Harlan
Monday, August 10, 2020|11:57 AM
Christopher Horner|Tribune-Review
The WPIALs position remained in line with what the PIAA board decided last week when it delayed the start of fall sports by 2 weeks. The delay until Aug. 24 was meant to give the PIAA additional time to talk with Wolfs administration, state legislators and others before figuring out a path forward.
Football groups were originally scheduled to start heat acclimatization Monday however thats been pushed to Aug. 24. All other fall sports likewise can start practice on that date, but its unclear whether games will be held as set up.
Speaking on a teleconference Monday, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine backed up the governors choice to postpone youth sports.
The PIAA board will reconvene Aug. 21.
” If (the governor) has concerns about a specific sport, lets have those discussions,” she said.
” The WPIALs action to the guvs remarks … is among aggravation,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said Monday, “due to uncalculated, irregular and unjust approach to this guidance.”
The WPIAL reaction came the same day Philadelphia Public Schools revealed strategies to follow Wolfs suggestion and delay sports, revealing the varying responses seen statewide. Pittsburgh Public Schools administrators already made strategies to delay City League sports also.
Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review Staff Writer. You can get in touch with Chris by email at [email protected] or by means of Twitter.
Seneca Valleys Elise Riley (20) hits Peters Twp.s Hannah Stuck throughout the WPIAL Class AAAA women soccer champion video game Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, at Highmark Stadium.
Scheuneman spoke at a press conference outside the WPIAL workplace in Green Tree.
” I understand, being a pediatrician and adolescent medication expert, how crucial sports can be for kids,” Levine stated. “How important in regards to their mental health, their physical health and for some in terms of chances for college, and so on, however offered the size and scope of this international pandemic, we, in addition to lots of other states … are going to say its unworthy the danger to do sports this fall provided covid-19.”
It was “unreasonable,” she included, because Wolfs administration provided assistance in June for schools to resume sports. That assistance required every school district to execute a health-and-safety and develop plan for covid-19. Those strategies are in place and working successfully, she said.
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” You have to look at the big picture in order to understand it,” she stated. “Schools make choices since they have thousands of students that would be strolling the corridors.
” The WPIAL is in favor of the PIAAs technique to get more clearness on what a strong suggestion really suggests to schools legally if they pick to offer sports this fall,” Scheuneman stated. “We likewise support the continuation of sports under the developed standards.”
The WPIAL highly supports playing high school sports this fall regardless of Gov. Tom Wolfs suggestion they be postponed until January.
” My plea to Gov. Wolf is to reassess and see the significance of high school sports as a whole in the development of student-athletes,” Scheuneman said.
” You have to take a look at the huge picture in order to comprehend it,” she said. “Schools make decisions because they have thousands of trainees that would be strolling the hallways. They can not effectively social range 500, 1,500, 2,000 kids in the corridors. When they go out to a soccer field or a tennis court, there are far fewer trainees. 7 professional athletes are needed for a tennis match. Thats certainly manageable.”
#WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman press conference #HSSN https://t.co/gJYc3xBsAS
— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) August 10, 2020
It was “unreasonable,” she included, because Wolfs administration provided assistance in June for schools to resume sports. That assistance required every school district to produce and carry out a health-and-safety strategy for covid-19. Those strategies remain in place and working successfully, she said.
Scheuneman stated it is possible low-risk sports might be played in the fall while high-risk sports like football arent. Football video games are scheduled to begin Sept. 10 or 11.
Days before saying sports must be held off, the governor likewise advised that schools with online-only classes shouldnt play sports. Scheuneman disagreed.
The first would be golf on Aug. 27 and girls tennis Aug. 31.
She pointed out Allegheny County Health Department data that showed sports wasnt a substantial cause for coronavirus spread in current weeks, according to get in touch with tracing. The governors assistance is “inconsistent” due to the fact that he hasnt issued a recommendation that schools cancel in-person classes, she stated, just sports.
” We wanted to make this public announcement to let the schools and the students understand we are defending them to have a season,” Scheuneman said.
The governor on Thursday said youth sports shouldnt be played up until at least Jan. 1 to avoid possible coronavirus spread. His brief comment at an interview was followed a couple of hours later by a document from the state departments of health and education, which described Wolfs assistance as a “strong suggestion” and not an order or mandate.
