PIAA legislative overseers bullish on fall sports restart

The last formal hurdle before the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Directors decides, finally and ultimately, whether or not to play high school sports in a pandemic this fall was cleared Tuesday.

It wasn’t even a speed bump.

The PIAA’s annual meeting with and report to the state General Assembly’s Athletic Oversight Committee amounted to a pep rally for the restart.

PIAA Executive Director Robert Lombardi and group of interested parties, including Manheim Township football coach Mark Evans, testified to the committee that the fall sports season should begin with practice next week, can be done safely, and should be done in the interest of the athletes.

“We would like to move forward with fall sports,’’ Lombardi said. “This isn’t a political issue. This is a student participation issue.”

He added that even if all or most of the state’s school districts went entirely to distance learning, “We would hope to continue athletics.”

The PIAA is a governing body that provides sanction, rules and structure to interscholastic sports. It will vote Friday to give that sanction, although the actual choice to participate this fall will be, and in some cases has been, made by local school boards and administrations. The School District of Lancaster board, in fact, planned to address the issue during its meeting Tuesday night.

“Without question, (the PIAA is) attuned to what the risks are,’’ said State Sen. Scott Martin of Martic Township, who was voted chairman of the oversight committee Tuesday.

“They clearly believe school districts can move forward with their health and safety plans. They understand that sports are much more than a game. For a lot of young people, they are an anchor in their lives.’’

“I would never say it’s a done deal,’’ Martin said of Friday's planned vote by the PIAA’s 32-member Board of Directors.

But Melissa Mertz, associate executive director of the PIAA, said in a radio interview Monday, “We feel fairly confident that we can get school sports up and running.”

The major dissenting voice comes from the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, which has recommended no high school or youth sports until at least Jan. 1. But Wolf and his deputies have repeatedly said that is only a recommendation.

It was in reaction to that recommendation that PIAA pushed the start of fall practices back two weeks, to Aug. 24, and arranged a meeting with the Wolf administration last week.

After the meeting, PIAA expressed concern that the recommendation was not “based upon Pennsylvania sports-specific data.’’

Lombardi provided pre-screening testing numbers Tuesday based on reports “from member schools and our athletic personnel,’’ that showed four positives from 30,300 tests of high school athletes, a rate of .013%.

Potential liability for school districts, should athletes contract the virus, remains an issue. Lombardi asked the legislators for help Tuesday, saying that he had contacted insurance companies to find out if coverage against this specific liability was available and at what cost.

“We are researching this as we speak,’’ Lombardi said. “Preliminary indications are that it would be cost-prohibitive.’’

Martin said Wolf has guaranteed COVID-19 liability coverage to front-line workers in the health care industry.

“He could very easily give it to hospitals, schools, nursing homes, universities …’’ he said. He has chosen not to. I don’t know why.’’

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Crédito: MIKE GROSS | Sports Writer