Washington state schools hit pause, push start of fall sports season back two weeks
Fall high school sports in Washington have officially been delayed. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Executive Board announced the two-week delay Tuesday evening, pushing the start of football season to Sept. 5 and all other sports to Sept. 7.
The Board will continue to work with staff, member schools and state agencies to monitor the impact of COVID-19, the release states. The Board plans to make its next statement concerning the start of fall sports on July 22nd following its next scheduled meeting. In the interim, a committee of Board members, staff, and select WIAA stakeholders will work to create a fall schedule with the adjusted start dates.
Its the first in what could be multiple delays to the fall high school sports season and is in line with Governor Inslees two-week pause on counties moving into different phases of the states reopening plan as the coronavirus spread has shown no signs of slowing down over the past month.
The WIAA released its return-to-play guidelines last month, giving the first indication of recommended safety precautions for schools to put into place, as well as which sports would be allowed to resume in which phases. Football, considered a high-risk sport, was not included in the document, though presumably can resume in some capacity in Phase 4. Pierce and King Counties are currently in Phase 2.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/washington-state-schools-hit-pause-push-start-of-fall-sports-season-back-two-weeks/ar-BB16v3yk?li=BBnbfcL