The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association thinks organized fall school sports should go ahead during the coronavirus pandemic because youths are going to play anyway, and school oversight might provide the safest framework.
That was a theme of a new letter from the PIAA to Gov. Tom Wolf reviewed by The Morning Call.
It was dated Tuesday, four days after the PIAA delayed the start of fall sports by two weeks in response to Wolf’s public recommendation to scrub the entire season. Wolf said he wanted to safeguard people against the virus.
“Sports are going to be played by youth, whether within the PIAA structure or otherwise, and that doing so within the educational umbrella may provide the safest means for that to occur,” PIAA Executive Director Robert Lombardi wrote in the letter.
He went on to say that kids have been playing sports all summer.
“In the public domain, golf courses and tennis facilities have hosted numerous competitive tournaments. Many charitable organizations have hosted road races,” Lombardi wrote. “The sports of field hockey, volleyball, basketball, baseball and soccer have had countless age group tournaments across the commonwealth. To our knowledge, none have reported problems with coronavirus breakouts.”
A spokesperson for Wolf said in an email, “We received a copy of the letter and have been in contact with the PIAA about further discussions.”
Wednesday afternoon, state Rep. Jeanne McNeill of Lehigh County ? like Wolf, a Democrat ? said she believed the PIAA was right.
“Down the street, at my local field, the kids are playing hoops,” she said. “They are going to play anyway.”
McNeill said she has heard from constituents on both sides of the issue, with the feedback being “about equal.”
The pandemic has upended the sports world at every level. One of the latest disruptions was announced Tuesday, when the Big Ten postponed its fall football season.
From late July into August, discussions in Pennsylvania increased about whether fans should be allowed to congregate as spectators for fall scholastic sports.
Then at the very end of a press conference Thursday afternoon, Wolf surprised many ? including the PIAA ? when he said that to fight the virus, “The recommendation is that we don’t do any sports until Jan. 1.” A short time later, his administration issued a written statement that said the same thing.
The PIAA followed with an emergency meeting on Friday and then announced the two-week delay in fall sports.
The PIAA also said it wanted to have a dialogue with the administration and the Legislature about saving the fall season. That desire was repeated in the Tuesday letter to Wolf.
Lombardi wrote that the purpose of the letter “is to request an opportunity to discuss with your office possible options for fall sports at PIAA member schools.”
He said PIAA wants to present options to let many schools move forward with fall sports.
The independent agency’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, Lombardi said, has worked with other committees to develop guidelines that go beyond those developed by the Wolf administration.
“Come fall, if schools are unable to engage in sports, and absent another mandatory shutdown, families and students will not stop playing,” Lombardi wrote. “They will simply find other outlets. Halting interscholastic athletics will not eliminate the risk, it will simply shift it to other venues that lack sufficient oversight.”
A spokesperson for House Republicans, Jason Gottesman, said some members have been in touch with the PIAA.
But, he said, the most desirable thing would be a three-party conversation ? involving PIAA, the Wolf administration and the Legislature ? rather than just the Legislature and PIAA.
Otherwise, Gottesman said, PIAA’s decisions will have only Wolf’s not-until-January “strong recommendation” as his administration’s last word on the matter.
“We stand behind the PIAA,” Gottesman said.
A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, said he encouraged PIAA to “stay the course and allow the decision making to occur at the local level.” And, she said, Corman believes low-income athletes may be disproportionately affected by a stoppage, because school-arranged sports may be the only way they can afford to compete.
State Rep. Mike Reese, a Republican who represents parts of Westmoreland and Somerset counties, is proposing legislation to take decision-making on high school sports during the pandemic away from state-level entities like the administration and Legislature, and give it to school districts.
“Some districts might be able to have a football season,” Reese said. “Some might not.”
Reese is a member of the Legislature’s independent Athletic Oversight Committee.
“I have had conversations with Dr. Lombardi,” Reese said. “The PIAA is saying, ‘Look, we can do this. We can do this safely.'”
Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com.
