High school sports forced to adjust schedule

Football, boys soccer and volleyball moved to spring

by Than Acuff

Following several weeks of questions, discussions and inquiries, the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) decided to make some significant changes to the high school sports schedule.

On Tuesday, August 4, CHSAA sent word out that they are moving boys soccer, football and volleyball from their usual fall seasons to the spring of 2021. Cross country, boys golf and girls softball will continue with their fall seasons, pandemic permitting.

“I’m not surprised,” says Gunnison Watershed School District athletics director and Gunnison head football coach Jarrod Hinton. “They alluded to a different model in a couple of recent conversations, I just didn’t know how things were going to get moved.”

“It’s unfortunate,” adds boys soccer coach Bob Piccaro. “Some of the kids have been training the past couple of weeks to prepare for the upcoming season and we were looking forward to it. It’s a bummer but it’s the reality of the world we’re living in right now.”

Hinton did reach out to all coaches with a couple of thoughts on how student-athletes can adjust to the current situation.

“I do want to encourage athletes to participate in the sports that are offered this fall,” says Hinton. “We could potentially have the best cross country, boys golf and softball teams we’ve ever had.”

Still, Hinton is looking for fall coaches to keep some kind of season going for the kids who don’t choose to join one of the sports still going.

“We’d like to continue holding workouts to make sure the kids stay engaged,” says Hinton.

Furthermore, it’s not just fall sports that are affected. CHSAA decided to put a moratorium on all activities from October 17 to January 4 in anticipation of further potential issues with the current pandemic. Therefore, winter and spring sports schedules have been altered as well, with basketball and hockey seasons moved back to start on January 4, while girls soccer and track and field seasons will start on April 26, concluding in late June.

“I think it’s CHSAA’s attempt to get some sports done and then brace for a possible second wave, get clean and then start back in January,” says Hinton.

All of this, as CHSAA points out, depends on how things play out with the start of school and based on national, state and local guidelines.