New York high school football, volleyball, cheerleading to be pushed until the spring

New York state officials have officially decided to move the high school football, volleyball and competitive cheerleading seasons from the fall to March 1.

News 12 Staff

Sep 9, 2020, 11:40 PM

Updated 1,493 days ago

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New York state officials have officially decided to move the high school football, volleyball and competitive cheerleading seasons from the fall to March 1.
The announcement, made by the state's public high school athletic association, comes after the three sports were not deemed "low-risk," keeping them from possibly starting as soon as Sept. 21.
Neighboring Connecticut also recently opted to postpone high school football until the spring season.
Low-risk sports like soccer, golf, swimming, tennis and track are due to get going statewide in under two weeks. But Nassau County's Section VIII recently decided to push all sports until 2021. They have since said they are willing to reconsider based on any new guidance.
Due to the movement of these sports, the spring sports season has been moved to to April 19, 2021.
"We've spent two days speaking with nearly 500 athletic directors across the state and it's clear that administering high-risk fall sports during the COVID-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge for our member schools," said Dr. Robert Zayas, NYSPHSAA Executive Director. "These are unprecedented times and unfortunately, difficult decisions will have to be made to address this ongoing crisis. We continue to stay committed to providing support to our member schools and quality participation experiences for the students we serve."
Zayas says there will be an overlap between the new fall sports season II and the spring season. He says it will be up to the individual sections whether or not to allow athletes to play sports in both seasons.
Zayas adds that athletes can play two fall season sports (i.e. field hockey in fall season I and volleyball in fall season II).