After sending out and receiving surveys from its member schools, the Arizona Interscholastic Association has figured out a schedule for the return of fall sports.
In a Wednesday, Aug. 5 release, the AIA announced a staggered start to the fall season. The statement did note that “the resumption of all athletics and activities are subject to change based upon changes to national, state or local guidelines, or government directives.”
Barring any changes, however, the relevant dates for Sedona Red Rock High School are as follows.
Cross country can have its first official practice on Monday, Aug. 24. The first competition can be held Wednesday, Sept. 9. The state championship meet will be held on Thursday, Nov. 12 and Friday, Nov. 13.
Swimming and diving can have its first official practice on Monday, Aug. 24. The first competition can be held on Monday, Sept. 14. The state championship meet will be held from Thursday, Nov. 5 through Saturday, Nov. 7.
Fall soccer can have its first official practice on Monday, Aug. 31. The first competition can be held on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The championship tournament will be held from Wednesday, Nov. 4 through Saturday, Nov. 7.
Volleyball can have its first official practice on Monday, Aug. 31. The first competition can be held on Monday, Sept. 21. The state championship tournament will be held from Thursday, Nov. 12 through Saturday, Nov. 21.
The Scorpions do not participate in fall golf, badminton or football, but the AIA released those schedules as well.
For all sports, until the first official practice dates, the summer practices at SRRHS and other schools having them will continue under the current Phase 1 guidelines. That includes no more than 10 student athletes in the gym or field at a time, workouts of no more than two hours, continued monitoring of temperatures, wearing masks when not in drills and chairs set up far apart to promote social distancing during breaks.
“The health and safety of our student participants, coaches, officials and essential personnel, including volunteers, is the primary concern for the return of interscholastic athletics and activities,” AIA Executive Director David Hines said in the release. “We are very grateful to those who share our commitment of a return to these highly beneficial educational activities and athletics.”
Beyond the possibility that COVID-19 could cause a change in the schedules, even assuming the dates are all met, there is one pending matter of whether spectators will be allowed. Seth Polansky, AIA sports information coordinator, noted that that’s being left up to the individual host schools, cities and counties.
“The allowance of spectators will be decisions at the local level,” Polansky said. “Some locales will be further along in their return phases, so we will defer to them, as they know what is best for their own situations.”
Another change will be the length of the seasons. Due to the later than normal start dates, the AIA agreed to move the start of the winter sports season back a week. Still, the limited time will cause the fall seasons to be shorter than they normally are. Region and conference committees will determine the minimum number of games a team will need to play to reach postseason, what the regular season maximums will be, region tournaments and the postseason qualifying procedures.
So, even under the current best case scenarios, this season will be much different than any that came before, and possibly any that come after. Despite that, finally having a schedule was welcome news to fall sport athletes and coaches at SRRHS.
“Nothing is going to stop me from playing,” said sophomore Annabelle Cook, who will be playing on the Scorpions volleyball team for the second year. “I only have four years so I am going to push and try as hard as I can to make those four years as good as I can.”
“I’m just happy in general to be back,” Cook added. “We’re really grateful and thankful that Sedona has really taken precautions and done all these guidelines to give us these sports. To give us the summer sports and now fall sports.”
That was an opinion shared by her teammate, junior Stephanie Medel.
“I think it’s nice to keep playing,” Medel said. “Having us play and not just having us stay at home and not have any physical education. It’s nice that we’re still having games, tournaments and championships.”
