Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association officials met with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s staff on Friday. After the meeting, the PIAA board announced plans to meet Aug. 21 to discuss the starting of fall sports.
Here is the full statement released by the PIAA on Friday afternoon.
Today, PIAA discussed with representatives of the Governor’s office, options for starting fall sports. We discussed many different scenarios including schools’ health and sports’ safety strategies, local liability protection and options for moving ahead with fall sports. The Governor’s staff repeatedly indicated this is a local school decision.
PIAA is concerned that the Governor’s “strong” recommendation last week and comments in yesterday’s press conference were not based upon Pennsylvania sports specific data and the recommendation has been perceived as a mandate by member schools. PIAA is very aware of the negative impact postponement of fall sports will have upon our 350,000 student-athletes and their families.
PIAA Executive Director, Dr. Robert A. Lombardi, stated, “We will continue to be advocates for athletic activities that promote the health, and safety, social, emotional, and mental well-being of student-athletes”. Since March, PIAA has taken a measured approach in a step-by-step basis to assist our membership in developing Return to Competition Guidelines that will assist in providing schools with a framework to develop best practices for a safe return to play. To that end, the PIAA Board of Directors will meet again on Friday, August 21, 2020 to discuss the starting of fall sports.
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