North Carolina high school sports to extend dead period to June 15
The N.C. High School Athletic Association will extend its dead period for two weeks, according to a published media report.
The Raleigh-based HSOT quoted a source saying the NCHSAA Board of Directors unanimously voted to move the dead period from June 1 to June 15. That would mean no organized high school offseason workouts or practices could begin until then.
The Observer was able to confirm the report Tuesday.
The first date that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teams would’ve started offseason workouts was June 10.
According to the story, an email was sent to the association’s more than 400 schools to advise them of the change and to alert them to work with the NCHSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee to create a plan for a return to summer workouts. The email said those workouts could begin June 15 if conditions surrounding COVID-19 continue to improve in North Carolina.
On Friday, N.C. Governor Roy Cooper and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen released a set of recommendations for non-contact sports to resume in Phase 2 of the state’s re-opening plan, which went into effect 5 p.m. Friday.
The recommendations will apply to non-contact sports such as baseball, swimming and golf. Those non-contact sports will be allowed to resume so long as certain guidelines are followed.
Contact sports, such as basketball and football, are not yet allowed.
The state’s guidelines, for participants of youth, college and amateur sports, include:
▪ Limiting sports activities to those where participants can maintain social distancing or have brief contact with each other. The DHHS listed sports such as golf, baseball, cycling, swimming, dance, tennis, disc golf, horseback riding, track, figure skating, curling, running and pickleball.
▪ For sports such as football, competitive cheer, lacrosse, basketball, soccer, wrestling, rugby and hockey, the state recommends activities be limited to “athletic conditioning drills and practices in which dummy players, sleds, punching bags and similar equipment are used but athletes are not playing the actual sport.”
The NCHSAA has a news conference set for Monday (May 26) at 4 p.m. to officially announce its plans.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 11:29 AM.
