STEVENS POINT, WI – The WIAA Board of Control has decided to allow schools to participate in a Fall Sports season, but it will start later than the original start date in the first week of August.
The board decided on an 8-3 vote to have the higher risk sports of Football, Boys Volleyball, Girls Volleyball, and Soccer be delayed until the week of September 7 and have the other fall sports seasons start on August 17th.
Football would have a shortened season of 7 games which would also eliminate non-conference games. Football games would then start on September 21.
Schools that are comfortable starting with the approved fall schedule would have their season and the hope would be to include as many teams as possible. For teams that are not comfortable starting in September due to COVID-19 concerns in their county, or for teams that get impacted early on in the season, the plan would allow for the WIAA to create a second season that would be run in the spring. The plan will come with some preset guidelines.
“If I have three football games in and several weeks of practice and we have to stop, is it appropriate to say now you can do the rest in the Spring. There will be a point where we do let changes be made, but some point it crosses that threshold of equitable competition,” said WIAA Executive Director Dave Anderson.
He said that would possibly cause crossover conflict between sports season, but each school’s Athletic Director, Coaches, Athletes, and parents would have to best figure that out. He said they would do their best to keep their calendar from crossing over as much as possible.
“We need to be flexible here and we need to do what we can to allow as many schools to participate safely,” Anderson said. “If I had the magic wand, I would say it would be best to assign the task and challenge of this staff to run duplicate seasons if need be for members that are not able to go until the end of the year.”
Board President Eric Russel of Baldwin-Woodville made the recommendation of the delayed start and stated for those schools that can’t run, they then have the chance to work as an area or conference or region to move their fall sports to the spring.
Russell said he did not like the idea of a delay all the way to the Spring, based on the results of surveys that were conducted by the WIAA.
The Board of Control discussed a proposal that would postpone fall sports to the spring and have winter sports start after January 1 and have the spring sports season start in the summer.
Each of the WIAA Executives conducted a survey of the coaches association of their respected sports and presented details that showed that many of the sports did not like the idea of moving seasons.
Track, Baseball, and Softball overwhelming said that they were not in favor of moving to the summer since their 2019 season was already impacted with the cancelation of Spring Sports.
Soccer, Baseball, and Softball Coaches association all felt that participation would be impacted because of things like club sports, legion ball, and summer job opportunities for the athletes. Some of the sports also felt that finding officials would be tough if the season was moved and Soccer would have a difficult time finding venues in the summer.
WIAA Deputy Director Wade Labecki says the proposal was not necessarily good for football either.
“If we have football in the spring and it does not get over until the end of June, we are starting football again in August and it narrows the gap which could result in more injuries and loss of participation.”
Labecki said weather also plays a factor with the season starting in March, some areas of the state are still snow-covered.
Most of the board members agreed that fall sports needed to be made available. Only Willy Chambers of Black Hawk in District 5, Bernie Nikolay of Cambridge in District 6, and Paul Pedersen of Regis voted against the proposal made by Russel.
“There is going to be fall sports played without a doubt, because there are people ready to start club sports for the fall sports and that includes football if we are not doing it,” said District 7 Representive Phil Ertl of Wauwatosa.
Prior to the vote, there was an amendment by Ertl to start all sports before school. Ertl said he felt it is time to get the kids playing as soon as possible.
“If people could see the excitement, they don’t care, they will wear a mask under their helmet as long as they can play. If we can get them back two weeks earlier, we are talking about mental health benefits,” Ertl said.
The amendment failed on a 9-2 vote with Ertl and Pedersen voting for the amendment.
“In Menominee County, we are ranked 72 out of 72 counties for unhealthiest counties. For us, if we can push it back to the 7th, that gives our students in this area a chance to participate,” said Ethnic Minority Representative Karl Morin, of Menominee Indian District.
The WIAA Board of Control has not committed to having a tournament series for the sports seasons.
“We need to get out of that mindset that there is no point in having a season if we can’t find a champion, that is absolutely wrong in education-based athletics.”
The board also confirmed that schools that choose to run 100 percent virtual will still have the chance to participate in sports.
Each school district will have to decide if they are going to participate in the fall sports seasons and let the WIAA know their plans.
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