Posted on: Wednesday, April 22, 2020
LYNNFIELD — The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Board of Directors held a virtual meeting on Monday, April 13 to review recent recommendations from the Tournament Management Committee (TMC) regarding MIAA’s spring tournament structure.
The meeting included BOD members, TMC representatives, MIAA staff and members of the media.
The board passed multiple motions as part of the MIAA’s overall plan in case the opportunity for a spring season is available.
The MIAA will follow the guidelines put forth by Gov. Charlie Baker in the coming weeks, but are preparing for a potential start date of May 4 when schools are currently scheduled to reopen.
The board of directors also approved a motion to proceed with the recommendation from the TMC to play through a sectional tournament this spring.
They also approved the cutoff date of June 12 at 7 p.m. for regular season competition for baseball, lacrosse, rugby, softball, tennis and volleyball. Seeding will tentatively take place on June 13. The tournaments will tentatively begin the week of June 15 and conclude by June 27.
The board accepted the recommendation from the TMC that there will not be a Division 1A, or Super Eight, tournament this spring.
Among the other motions approved were no individual tennis tournament and a track and field cutoff date of June 21 at 6 p.m., with entries received by June 22. Sectional track meets will be scheduled for June 27 and June 28, with the Pentathlon scheduled for June 25.
The board also voted to accept the recommendation of an MIAA sub-committee to waiver Rule 40 regarding out-of-season for spring 2020 coaches.
Under that rule, coaches were limited in their contact with players as if it were the offseason. Now, spring coaches are permitted to have contact with more than 50 percent of their teams’ candidates.
There are new guidelines coaches must follow so that they are still encouraging social distancing. They can recommend workouts and training plans, but all must be voluntary. It must be clear to all student-athletes that there are no requirements or expectations for student-athletes to participate.
Coaches can’t organize team workouts and they shouldn’t be encouraging athletes to come together for a team workout, but they can recommend ways for student-athletes to train individually.
Coaches also can’t communicate with their student-athletes regarding their ongoing participation.
“The sub-committee believes athletics are an extension of the classroom,” said the MIAA sub-committee in a press release. “This is an opportunity for coaches to remotely teach and stay in touch with the students they work with.”
