Start of Maine’s winter sports season delayed until 2021
This story will be updated.
The Maine Principals’ Association on Friday announced that team-based practices and scrimmaging for moderate and high-risk interscholastic winter sports, which were originally slated to begin on Dec. 14, 2020, have been delayed until January 4, 2021.
The decision, which was made in collaboration with state agencies, the Maine School Boards Association, the Maine School Superintendents Association and the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, comes during Maine’s surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and positivity rate.
The MPA will continue to allow skill-building drills or conditioning to begin as scheduled on Monday with face coverings, physical distancing, no close contact and in limited numbers when possible. This measure aims to allow student athletes the opportunity to participate in school sports to a limited extent despite the delay in team-based practice and intrasquad competition.
The State of Maine has also realigned its Guidance for Community Sports Activities.
That document identifies basketball, ice hockey, swimming, cheerleading and running events where physical distance cannot be maintained as moderate-risk activities. Wrestling has been deemed a high-risk sport.
All will be on hold.
The MPA on Nov. 6 had said that it would allow one week of skill-building drills or conditioning beginning Dec. 7 followed by the start of formal practices for all winter sports except wrestling on Dec. 14.
That date was changed, but no announcement was made regarding the start of regionalized team competition, which is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2021. The latest development could push any such move into at least late February.
Mike Burnham, the executive director of the interscholastic division of the MPA, on Wednesday had indicated the dates were tenuous given the latest developments.
“Since the beginning when we released those tentative dates, we have said that they are tentative at best and subject to change with what’s happening with the virus,” Burnham said.