The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s fall sports of girls tennis, girls and boys golf, field hockey, girls and boys soccer, girls and boys cross country, volleyball and football officially began practice Saturday, August 1.
Earlier Friday, the OHSAA Board of Directors reaffirmed their position that the OHSAA fall sports seasons will go forward as planned. While all fall sports can practice, contests between schools in the sports of golf, tennis and volleyball have been approved by Governor Mike DeWine. The OHSAA continues to work with the Governor’s Office toward approval of contests in cross country, field hockey, soccer and football.
“It is important to keep athletic activity moving forward,” said Dan Leffingwell, president of the OHSAA Board of Directors and superintendent of the Noble Local Schools in Sarahsville. “And with that, we believe our member schools provide our student-athletes with the safest possible environment to return to play and that our school programs are the best avenue to help students learn lifelong lessons and provide social, emotional and physical benefits that other programs cannot. Moving forward allows those students to continue to be engaged with their school coaches and teammates. Membership data also supports this decision.”
“If we were to delay, our students will find opportunities to compete in sports through non-school programs that may not be focused on safety and are not education-based,” Leffingwell said. “Should data on COVID-19 change and/or the Governor’s Office makes changes to our plan, we have flexibility that would allow us to look at implementing other models for our seasons.”
