By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
LYFORD — The University Interscholastic League on Tuesday released a revised schedule for fall sports that delays key dates for football, volleyball, cross country and team tennis at the 6A and 5A levels.
Schedules are being pushed back for larger schools in an effort to assist “schools in highly-populated metro areas” as they work with delayed on-campus instruction due to the impact of COVID-19 on the communities.
“We’re excited to get some direction from the UIL. I know it’s a very difficult task that they were charged with,” Harlingen CISD athletic director Robert Davies said. “We’re excited that we’re getting the opportunity to play, and now we’ve got some work to do as far as scheduling and getting some continued direction for start dates for face-to-face and when we can bring kids on to campus.”
Football and volleyball can begin practicing as early as Sept. 7, but there will be slight differences in what is allowed depending on when a school stopped offering summer strength and conditioning.
For 6A and 5A schools that remain closed through Sept. 7, which includes all UIL programs in Cameron County unless local health orders are lifted, the week of Sept. 7 will be for “strength and conditioning and sport specific activities only, no pads or helmets allowed.” On Sept. 14, programs can “begin acclimatization period,” and scrimmages can begin Sept. 24-26. Week 1 will be Oct. 1-3.
Schools that will be opened in August and “have offered strength and conditioning since August 24” can begin conditioning Sept. 7, but no contact activities or contact equipment other than helmets will be allowed. Scrimmages for those programs begin Sept. 17 and Week 1 will commence on Sept. 24.
Due to the new dates and current county regulations, all East Valley 6A and 5A teams will have one less scrimmage than schools that aren’t closed and a 10-week season before the Dec. 5 district certification deadline. Four East Valley schools — Brownsville Lopez, Brownsville Pace, Brownsville Porter and Brownsville Veterans Memorial — are in a 10-team district with six Hidalgo County schools that won’t be starting practices until Sept. 27.
“Working with the parameters of Hidalgo County, it does allow, on paper, an eight-week season, if everyone’s back and it’s safe to play,” Brownsville ISD athletic director Gilbert Leal said. “The way I’m looking at it is (Cameron County has) three extra weeks to play with … but every week that (Hidalgo’s) delayed affects both sides. There’s some options (for the district schedule) that are up for discussion, but it’s way, way too early to say what’s going to happen right now.”
District 32-6A also houses schools from both Cameron and Hidalgo, but Davies doesn’t foresee an issue with coming together to create a schedule that works for all. He said the working relationships between school districts are good and that he hopes to have some kind of plan for the district schedule by Monday.
East Valley volleyball teams in Districts 32-6A and 32-5A will use the week of Sept. 7 for strength and conditioning with some volleyball skill work. Practices can begin Sept. 14, a scrimmage can be played Sept. 17 and matches can begin Sept. 18.
Schools that remained open and offered strength and conditioning after Aug. 24 can begin scrimmages Sept. 11, and matches will be allowed starting Sept. 14.
Volleyball teams will have about two months to complete regular and district seasons before the district certification deadline, now set for Nov. 17. Programs can play three matches in a calendar week — one during the school week, and up to two more Friday and Saturday.
Matches and meets for team tennis and cross country at the 6A and 5A levels can start the week of Sept. 7. Soccer practices are tentatively set to begin Nov. 30, with scrimmages allowed Dec. 10 and games Jan. 2. Wrestling meets and tournaments are scheduled to start Nov. 9. Changes or guidelines for the golf season, which does begin in the fall semester, were not immediately addressed by the UIL.
Basketball only had one date adjusted, the district certification for girls hoops is now Feb. 9 and for boys it’s Feb. 16, but it was hit with one major change — no tournaments or showcases, including regional playoff tournaments, will be allowed for the 2020-21 season, aside from the state tournament.
The regional semifinal rounds will be played Feb. 22-23 in girls hoops and March 1-2 in boys. Regional final games will follow Feb. 26-27 for girls and March 4-6 for boys. Basketball teams are also being limited to 27 games.
“At this point we will take anything that involves a season. Honestly, I thought UIL was nice ONLY removing tournaments from us,” Los Fresnos boys basketball coach Marco Hinojosa said in a text.
In the press release announcing the calendar changes, the UIL acknowledged that “the situation is not always clear-cut and that COVID-19 affects every community differently.” Leal emphasized that point and said if sports will be able to return to the Rio Grande Valley this fall, everyone needs to do their part to reduce the spread of the virus.
“It’s in the hands of our communities and making sure that we do everything the correct way, following the CDC guidelines and crossing our fingers, and we’ll go from there,” Leal said.