Start of winter high school sports in Kansas may be delayed pending KSHSAA vote
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Winter high school sports in Kansas might have their season delayed until Jan. 15 after the Kansas State High School Activities Association executive board unanimously voted to pass a proposal at its meeting on Wednesday.
The fate for basketball, wrestling, bowling and swimming athletes will be decided next Tuesday at a 1 p.m. virtual meeting by the KSHSAA Board of Directors, a group of 78 members with representatives from every league in the state.
The proposal is in response to soaring COVID-19 rates in Kansas, as the coronavirus pandemic in the country has only worsened. Because winter sports are all played indoors, extra precautions will be taken to ensure the safety of the participants, officials and fans — if it is deemed the games are safe enough to be held in the first place.
Here are the proposals that the KSHSAA Board of Directors will have to consider:
- Delay competitions for all winter sports until Friday, Jan. 15 — a little more than a five-week delay to the scheduled start of the season.
- No fans will be allowed at competitions from Jan. 15-28 and a limited amount of fans will be allowed starting Jan. 29 through the reminder of the season.
- Masks will be mandatory for everyone except the athletes in competition and officials during live action.
- Teams will not be allowed to compete in invitational tournaments.
- Teams may continue to practice where appropriate to do so through Dec. 22, but another moratorium will come from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3 with practices resuming on Jan. 4.
- Basketball teams will be capped at playing 13 games; wrestling teams capped at 12 events; swimmers will be capped at six competitions and bowlers will be capped at eight competitions.
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