Goal is to play games beginning in February
by Dennis Rahm
Twenty-nine (29) North Central Washington schools from seven athletic leagues and three WIAA Districts have come together in hopes that student athletes will be able to once again participate in a variety of sports. Athletic Directors from the region have joined forces in order to schedule athletic competitions across classifications ranging from 1B to 4A schools.
The Governor’s office has divided the state into eight geographic regions in which to gauge phasing for COVID-19 restrictions. The North-Central region is currently in Phase 1 and it has been determined that competitive athletic events will be allowed to start when a Region is recognized by the State Department of Health as being in Phase 2.
As of now, fall sports — including football, volleyball, cross country and girls soccer — are tentatively schedule to have practices begin in mid-February. Competitions in volleyball, cross country and girls soccer are scheduled to begin February 27 while football games will start March 4. The fall sports season is scheduled to end on April 3, 2021.
Spring sports — including baseball, boys soccer, girls fastpitch softball, golf, tennis and track and field — are all scheduled for an early April start with the seasons ending on May 15. The winter sports season has been scheduled from mid-May to the season end on June 19. The winter sports include basketball and wrestling.
Chelan Athletic Director Scott Paine explains to LakeChelanNow how the North-Central Regional plan came together and notes it’s not going to be a traditional sports season.
“We just want to play sports” – Scott Paine
It should be noted that the indoor sports of basketball and wrestling are considered “high risk” sports and require regions to be in a Level-3 designation before play is allowed. Which sports and how many games will be played is still to be determined, but the planning is in place. All seasons will be condensed to a six-week period.
Even if games, matches and meets are played, it’s unlikely there will be state competitions in 2021. Indoor sports will likely not allow for spectators and outdoor sports will have limits on the number of fans who can attend.
Plans for Middle School athletics have also been developed with seasons to run April 12 through May 7 for football, volleyball and cross country. Track and Field and Softball are scheduled from May 10 through June 4.
Paine noted that “summer 2.0” workouts for some of the sports will begin as early as next week.
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