11/19/20 – Board of Control Pushes Back Start of Winter Sports Season to January 4

November 19, 2020 2020-2021 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 19, 2020

The Board of Control conducted its third regularly-scheduled meeting of the 2020-21 academic year on Wednesday and elected to postpone the start of the winter sports season to January 4th by unanimous vote. In congruence with the Governor’s order issued later the same day, official practice for all indoor interscholastic winter sports shall cease on Friday, November 20 at 5 p.m. and is planned to resume on Monday, December 14. This cessation will apply to all indoor interscholastic sports at all school levels, including but not limited to basketball, bowling, competitive cheer, dance, indoor track and field, swimming, and wrestling.

Details regarding any allowances for indoor interscholastic sports, which will be restricted prior to December 14, will be distributed to the membership prior to the Governor’s ordered shutdown of school-related in-person activity on Friday, November 20. The season calendar for each winter sport, as well as current virus data and any potential adjustments to the start and end dates for spring sports, will be reviewed in a follow-up meeting of the Board of Control currently scheduled for December 10th. The Board’s approved motion for basketball also included authorizing the Association to attempt to negotiate the dates for the Girls’ and Boys’ Sweet 16® during NFHS calendar weeks 37 and 38, and is pending final confirmation of specific available dates with the Lexington Center and Rupp Arena.

“Our Board has remained steadfast in their support for the spring sports and sport-activities in 2021 and continues to attempt during these challenging times to ensure these athletes, coaches, and schools have a full and complete season with an appropriate culminating event,” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “We should never forget the sacrifices made by all involved during the spring of 2020 and that has remained at the forefront of Board discussions. The currently approved action would shorten the winter seasons but the Board and staff continue to recognize that during these pandemic times, there will be nearly constant changes in the operations around education and school-based sport.”

The ongoing football playoffs were also addressed on Wednesday, with the Board authorizing the Commissioner to adjust the schedule for the state finals as necessary depending on the ever-developing situation with COVID-19 and facility availability. It was noted following the meeting that the Governor’s executive order and references to the KHSAA in that order apply to indoor sports, and there has been no adjustment to the completion of any KHSAA fall sport championship.

In other action Wednesday, the Board:

• Approved planned bracketing adjustments in the fourth and fifth round of the football playoffs in the event of a team withdrawing in an effort to have six championship contests for participants;
• Approved that in non-played district games in basketball, the RPI will be used to decide seeded games not played by the deadline;
• Confirmed that no forfeit fee will be applied to 2020-2021 contracted winter sports contests;
• Approved an amendment to the travel restrictions implemented for fall sports to lift the non-contiguous county scheduling restriction for out of state contests;
  Approved an amendment to the travel restrictions for teams, recommending individuals and schools participating in sports and sport-activities not travel out-of-state to a county where the incidence rate of that county would place them in “red” status in the Commonwealth;
• Approved a further amendment to the travel restrictions to recommend adhere strictly to the Governor’s travel ban for any team or individuals in sports or sport-activities traveling to participate in states on the current advisory listing, including 14-day quarantine upon return if such travel occurs;
• Agreed to invite representatives of the basketball 29th and 31st districts to provide input prior to the January Board of Control meeting on a request for the movement of Trimble County High School;
• Agreed to place Highlands Latin in the basketball 27th district for 2021-22 following the end of their candidacy years;
• Concurred with a reinterpretation of the provisions of Bylaw 5 regarding weekly credit checks to give member schools and systems flexibility during the pandemic with the fluid nature of academic delivery methods;
• Reviewed the entries related to Dance and confirmed the Board’s earlier action to eliminate size classifications for competition.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 284 member schools both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and 6 sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches, and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.