The Mississippi High School Athletics Association gave member schools the go ahead to begin summer workouts.
The MHSAA Executive Committee met on Thursday in a five-hour meeting via teleconference and debated the pros and cons of restarting athletics.
After the meeting, the MHSAA decided to let schools begin summer workouts but will not allow summer games.
The MHSAA said on its website that school athletics and fine arts activity programs can begin summer practices, workouts, skill development, weightlifting, conditioning and rehearsals for student-athletes and fine arts participants on June 1, pending Gov. Tate Reeves’ upcoming announcement on a date to reopen all Mississippi school facilities.
Athletic coaches and activity directors must confirm with their school and/or district administrators that a specific school facility is open and available for use.
The executive committee released the following guidelines in its release.
• Competition in athletics and activities between or among MHSAA member or non-member schools and/or teams is cancelled until school resumes in the fall.
• All practices, workouts, skill development, weightlifting, conditioning and rehearsals shall be considered voluntary for student athletes and activities participants.
• School team and school activities participation and travel to summer programs and/or team camps are not allowed. On-campus summer programs and/or school camps should adhere to national, state and local COVID-19 health recommendations.
“Once again, we appreciate the effort, hard work and leadership of our 15-member Executive Committee of school administrators in making difficult decisions during these uncertain times,” MHSAA Executive Director Don Hinton said. “The support of our MHSAA member schools has been greatly appreciated as well. Our highest priority is and always will be the safety, health and welfare of Mississippi’s students, educators and communities. We will continue to assess new information and develop plans for the upcoming 2020-21 fall sports and activities seasons. Weekly updates will be provided to help our member schools as we look forward to the new school year of sports and activities.”
Football teams will be allowed to hold intrasquad 7-on-7 practices and scrimmages. It will be the first on-field action for teams since last season, as the pandemic wiped out spring drills.
Preseason drills are scheduled to begin Aug. 3, with the 2020 season set to kick off Aug. 20-21.
“As we stand right now, I am fully planning on having a regular football season,” MHSAA associate director Rickey Neaves told The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. “If they say we can’t have people in stands, I don’t think our schools would be able to afford to have it.”
