What North Carolina remaining in Phase 2 means for high school football, fall sports
What now, North Carolina?
N.C. Governor Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that he was keeping the state in Phase 2 of its reopening plan for five more weeks, extending to at least Sept. 11. That goes past the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s target date of Sept. 1 to start fall sports practice.
N.C. Independent Schools planned to start fall sports, except football, if Cooper put the state info Phase 3 this week, and the NCISAA planned to have meetings with football coaches to determine a potential start of practice. It had targeted two potential dates to start playing in September: Sept. 18 and 25.
NCISAA executive director Homar Ramirez said he would meet with the state’s 97 private schools Thursday to discuss contingency plans.
“We do not have anything to share at this point,” NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said in regarding Cooper’s decision. “We will be providing an update to the membership very soon.”
There are eight states, including Maryland and Virginia, that have decided to cancel fall sports and move them into the spring. The Virginia plan, for example, includes starting winter sports, such as basketball, in December, followed by traditional fall sports in early 2021 before playing spring sports closer to their traditional window.
On Tuesday, the S.C. High School League executive committee voted 18-0 to move the start of high school football practice to Sept. 8, three weeks later than originally planned. The first games are Sept. 25. If fall sports are canceled, the league said they can be moved to the spring.
In North Carolina, some counties have begun voluntary summer workouts, which the NCHSAA approved June 15. Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Wake County Schools have not announced a start date. The schedule changes also forced Myers Park to cancel its high-profile game with Rock Hill’s South Pointe High School on Sept. 5. That would’ve been the first time a high school football game had been held at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, where the Panthers play.
The NCHSAA, the governing body for public schools in North Carolina, recently sent a survey to school superintendents about school reopening plans and whether students who are virtual learners and not going to school buildings will be eligible to play sports. Those results have not been released. Via spokesperson Brian Hacker, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools did not complete or return the association survey. Hacker said CMS has not made a decision about student-athlete athletic eligibility under remote learning.
Hacker said, “as soon as a decision is made, we will share broadly with families and stakeholders.”
Several other districts responded to an Observer request:
▪ Rowan-Salisbury Schools will have two days in-class learning and three days remote. Student-athletes will be eligible to play.
▪ Union County Schools will allow athletes to play if the NCHSAA offers a sports season this fall. Union will have in-person learning one day per week and remote learning four days. There is also an all-virtual option.
▪ Lincoln County will allow its athletes to play sports. Lincoln students will attend class one day a week for the first two weeks, then two times per week after that.
▪ Kannapolis City Schools will allow athletes to participate. Students will attend school twice per week.
Myers Park athletic director Brian Poore said the questionnaire also had a question about potentially starting Oct. 1 with fall practice in the NCHSAA.
“I think the first three-to-four weeks of school are really going to be telling to see if we have the opportunity to move to Plan B and get kids back on campus,” Poore said on the Observer’s streaming show, Talking Preps, Tuesday night. “I think right now that’s their No. 1 focus. I’m not too optimisic that we can start on Sept. 1.”
Poore said he felt remote learning wouldn’t be a death blow to athletics in Mecklenburg County, but would present some challenges.
“Remote learning does not kill athletics in CMS,” Poore said. “I think there’s some hurdles that you have to overcome. Transportation would be a big one. At a lot of schools, kids depend on CMS transportation to get on campus. For us, (remote learning) is like a bubble. ... When you don’t have kids on campus and don’t have to sanitize prior to going into workouts and your kids are just showing up for workouts or practices, it’s probably easier to handle.”
