Following Executive Order 2020-44 from Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey — which dictated that schools throughout the state will not start in-person learning until Monday, Aug. 17 at the earliest — the Arizona Interscholastic Association has released an estimated schedule for the potential start to the fall sports season.
Based on the current estimations, the first fall sport that could get underway is golf. The AIA presently estimates that the high school golf season could begin on Monday, Aug. 24. While golf is a spring sport at Camp Verde, both Mingus’ boys and girls teams play in the fall.
As neither the Cowboys nor Marauders partake in badminton, the next relevant date for both schools would come during the week of Friday, Sept. 7. That’s when the AIA estimates that all other fall sports could get underway.
For Camp Verde, fall sports are football, girls volleyball, cross country and soccer. For Mingus, fall sports are football, girls volleyball, cross country and swimming and diving. Soccer, swimming and diving and cross country are both boys and girls sports.
Something worth noting is that like everything else in the COVID-19 world, the aforementioned estimated dates are all somewhat fluid. All are contingent upon the in-person learning date of Aug. 17 not being pushed back any further.
Prior to Gov. Ducey’s executive order, the plan was to send two surveys out to principals throughout the state to help lay out a potential return to fall sports. The first, which was to be due on July 10, would have dealt with football and soccer. The second, which was to be due back on July 24, would have dealt with all other fall sports. In both cases, the AIA Crisis Management Committee would have met the following Monday to determine the next action.
Now, principals will receive only one survey. It will go out on Tuesday, Aug. 4 and be due back by Friday, Aug. 7.
“The results will be shared with the Crisis Management Committee before it goes before the executive board on Aug. 17 at its regularly scheduled meeting,” the AIA statement said.
Even if the aforementioned estimates are held throughout the state, there are additional challenges.
For football, the statement also added that while the Sept. 7 date would allow for an 8- to 10-game season to be played, “The current playoff structure may have to be adjusted after input from the membership.”
As it relates to other sports, the statement said that “It is possible that regular season invitationals and tournaments may be limited or canceled due to venue allowances
and other restrictions.”
Finally, even if the estimates are realistic and the AIA decides to go forth, individual schools and districts can still cancel their own fall sports season. The AIA statement even said that if cancellations are done for COVID-19 reasons, the typical penalties that come with canceling events will not be enforced.
“If a school determines that it cannot operate a fall sports season due to the pandemic, the AIA will respect that decision,” the AIA’s statement said. “Fees and penalties are waived for cancellations that are due directly to the pandemic. The AIA will also help the schools losing contests find new ones to fill out schedules.”
