OHSAA to forge on with winter sports

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s neighbors to the north, south and southeast have halted the start of winter sports.

The Buckeye State won’t be following their lead.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association said in a release this morning it sent a memo to its member schools Wednesday reassuring them on its decision to permit winter sports as originally scheduled.

“Though we are seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases in Ohio, the majority of our member schools want the opportunity to move forward with winter sports as planned,” OHSAA executive director Doug Ute said in a release this morning. “As always, the decision to play sports is a local school decision and there will certainly be schools that pause sports for periods of time in the months to come, but if the majority of our schools want to move forward, then we want to provide the opportunity.

“As we have said previously, our member schools provide our student-athletes with the safest possible environment to participate. If we were to delay, students would find opportunities to compete in sports through non-school programs that may not be focused on safety and are not education-based.”

On Friday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced winter sports in his state would not be permitted to begin until Jan 11. Two days later, the Michigan High School Athletic Association announced it was suspending fall sports tournaments and the start of winter sports for at least three weeks amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the Great Lakes State.

Dayton Public Schools said Tuesday it was going have a six-week holiday break, during which students will not have classes — in-person or virtual — until Jan. 4, and no sports will be played during the time off.

And Wednesday, Kentucky announced it was pushing back the start of basketball season until Jan. 4 at the earliest.

This morning’s release by the OHSAA also said the organization does not intend to alter statewide season dates, although individual school districts can pause sports at any time just as Dayton Public Schools did three days ago.

Earlier this week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a state-wide curfew order from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. According to the OHSAA’s press release, the curfew “does not mean that teams and fans must be home from their competitions by 10 p.m., but venues must be vacated by 10 p.m. The OHSAA encourages schools and conferences to alter start times, if needed, so that competitions end in time to close the facility by 10 p.m.”

Fort Recovery’s girls basketball team is set to open its season tonight, and the Tribe boys begin their campaign Nov. 27. The boys and girls swimming schedule has not yet been finalized.