Press release:
Today (Jan. 26) at 4 p.m. members of the Athletic Council, the governing body of Section V Athletics, voted on many items related to the authorization of high-risk sports to begin on Feb. 1, pending approval from local departments of health. Any section of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) has the authority to determine a later start date than what is provided by NYSPHSAA.
All high-risk sports will need approval from their local departments of health before they can proceed. Section V Athletics reaches 12 different local departments of health and the request for approval has been made to each of them as of Monday, Jan. 25.
Winter high-risk sports are basketball, ice hockey and wrestling. The winter high-risk sports season will begin on Monday, Feb. 1, pending department of health approval. The regular season must end by Saturday, March 6, and sectionals will conclude by Sunday, March 14. Our leagues are now responsible to determine the regular-season schedule within the dates mentioned above.
For the winter high-risk sports season, the sectional tournaments will be a closed sectional format to be determined and all events will be hosted at the higher seed. The Fall II sports are competitive cheerleading, football and volleyball. We will finalize start and end dates for the Fall II sports season in the coming weeks.
Spring sports are baseball, boys golf, boys tennis, lacrosse, softball, and track & field. The NYSPHSAA spring sports season start date is Monday, April 19. We will continue to be sensitive to spring sports that have already missed a complete season and sectional/state championship last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At this time, only two spectators per athlete are permitted according to the New York State Department of Health, but local departments of health can be more restrictive. Section V will make every attempt to livestream events as they were in the previous seasons.
