Updated Connecticut Scholastic Winter Sports Plan Released

CONNECTICUT — Most scholastic winter sports in Connecticut will proceed as scheduled, with practices beginning as early as next Tuesday, following a Thursday meeting of the Board of Control (BOC) of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).

BOC members reviewed and approved the CIAC Winter Sports Plan, available for viewing here, following updated guidance from the state Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Connecticut State Medical Society Sports Medicine Committee.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, winter sports were classified into three risk categories: low (swimming), moderate (basketball, ice hockey, gymnastics, indoor track) and high (wrestling, competitive cheer, competitive dance).

The first practice date for winter sports has been set for no sooner than Tuesday, Jan. 19. Games may begin on or after Monday, Feb. 8. Twelve regular season games will be permitted in girls and boys basketball, boys ice hockey, girls gymnastics and boys swimming, according to the plan.

Amity Regional High School athletic director Ernie Goodwin told Patch, "As an athletic director, some mixed feelings. While I am very excited for basketball, ice hockey, ski racing and boys swimming and diving to get going, I empathize with cheerleading, dance, indoor track and field and wrestling who cannot fully participate. I am excited that all of our sport teams will be participating at some level, even if it is just conditioning and non-contact skill work as prescribed in the CIAC document. Our student-athletes will be able to feel somewhat “normal” in this most un-normal time."

A state wrestling expert, who asked not to be identified, said conditioning and shadow drills would have to suffice for high school grapplers, with hopes that full contact would be allowed later in the winter.

Danbury wrestling coach Ricky Shook told Patch, "It's very unfortunate for the whole wrestling community."

"I'm very happy and excited for the kids," Enfield-East Granby-Stafford hockey coach Frank Genovese told Patch. "They have had to endure so much over the past 10 months, and this will certainly create some normalcy in their lives. I personally cannot wait to get going."

Low to moderate risk indoor sports will require, per DPH guidelines, "all participants, coaches, and officials will utilize a mask that completely covers the nose and mouth, and that is worn directly on the face, at all times including during active play."

Mask breaks will be instituted in basketball and hockey. According to the policy, "In basketball, a one-minute mask break will occur at the first stoppage of play at or after the 4-minute mark of each period. In ice hockey, a one-minute mask break will occur at the first stoppage of play at or after the 4-minute, 8-minute, and 12-minute mark of each period. During a mask break, players will maintain greater than 6 feet of distance and may get water."

A postseason experience in all sports will be allowed from March 15-28. Those experiences will be championships at the league level. In order to maximize the number of game opportunities for all schools, no CIAC state championship tournaments will be held in the winter sports season, according to the plan.

Boys and girls indoor track teams will be limited to practice with indoor/outdoor meets considered no earlier than March, according to the plan.

Wrestling, competitive dance and competitive cheer will be limited to small group conditioning and non-contact skill building. The low-risk sports of sideline cheer and exhibition dance, with no lifts, stunting, or tumbling, may continue, provided participants wear masks and formations maintain six feet of distance between athletes, according to the CIAC.

A side effect of the abbreviated, delayed schedule is the cancellation of an "alternative season," which would have been sandwiched between the regular winter and spring seasons and affected primarily football.

CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini said the priority of the Board of Control was to minimize the impact on spring sports, which were cancelled entirely in 2020. He said 38 percent of football players and 31 percent of wrestlers also play a spring sport.

Under the finalized plan, the winter season will end March 28 and spring practices would begin the next day, leaving no room for the "alternative season," which had been announced by the CIAC in late September.

Stafford-Somers-East Windsor football coach Brian Mazzone told Patch, "I am hurt for everyone on the team. All of those kids had high hopes and they were crushed. I am especially hurting for our seniors. They handled this far better than the 18-year-old version of myself would have. They showed up, committed and worked and sadly they never got to put on the pads and play a game that they worked so hard to play. It is just a terrible feeling. I feel like the entire football community got cheated."

Lungarini conducted a 32-minute Zoom session with Connecticut sports media members early Thursday afternoon; that session may be viewed below.

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