Over the past week, no new news has been released in regards to the fate of winter or spring sports athletes in Ohio.
While additional measures have been taken state-wide in regards to the coronavirus pandemic, including Sunday’s stay-at-home order for anyone not affiliated with a business considered essential, as of Monday, March 23, the Ohio High School Athletic Association is still sticking to their previous plan.
As published last week, after Governor Mike DeWine announced the mandatory closing of schools for three weeks, preventing teams from holding practices, weightlifting or other activities on school grounds, the OHSAA came up with a tentative schedule where, assuming schools re-open on April 6, practices could resume on that day, with events starting up on April 11.
Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass maintained that the OHSAA was still hoping that schedule could be kept during a press conference held last Thursday, in order to at least give spring athletes a partial season.
The conclusion of the winter sports season may be in question, though. During that Thursday press conference, Snodgrass emphasized that he still has hopes of finishing those tournaments, but admitted there are many factors at play, including having available sites to host events. During the press conference, he noted that the OHSAA had a window of opportunity that was closing and expressed hope that a decision would be made within the next 24 to 48 hours; however, as of Monday, no such decision had been reached.
As printed last week, this has been a quickly-moving situation, where new announcements and orders seemingly have come on a daily basis, so whenever an update is provided by the OHSAA, it will be posted on morrowcountysentinel.com .
