CHAPEL HILL – In a memorandum sent to their membership Friday morning, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association has put a temporary moratorium on all scheduling for its member schools.
Nick Stevens, managing editor of HighSchoolOT, reported on the email in which NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said that the freeze on scheduling will be in place until a specially formed ad-hoc committee and the board of directors has a chance to “fully evaluate the details regarding each sport, conference and non-conference competition, previously signed contracts, playoff competition/qualification, etc.”
Tucker said that schools and conferences can continue to unofficially plan, but no official schedules can be set until the NCHSAA is ready for scheduling. The NCHSAA hopes to provide more details by September 4.
The 32-member ad-hoc committee will include people representing the N. C. Athletic Directors Association, the N. C. Coaches Association, the president or secretary from each sport-specific coaches association, conference administrators, school athletic directors, city/county athletic directors and representatives from each of the four classifications (A, AA, AAA, AAAA).
According to the memo, the ad-hoc committee will be meeting in the next 7-10 days to discuss “all pertinent details of upcoming seasons. After that the NCHSAA Board of Directors will vote on all plans forward.
The NCHSAA had received many questions after releasing their updated sports calendar earlier last week and some conferences were holding meetings for planning competition, scheduling tournaments and playoff qualification.
“The release of the calendar is to give our member schools the framework for the start, duration and end of a given sport’s season,” shared Tucker. “The ‘nuts and bolts’ of the playoff dates, format, conference/non-conference competition, dead period, etc was excluded from the initial release in an effort to get the information to our membership in an expeditious fashion.
“Over the past 36 hours, we have been surprised by the number of questions and situation examples our staff has received regarding these very important factors,” continued Tucker. “This information is forthcoming but this unique planning takes time and coordination.”
Volleyball and cross country, the first 2 sports to resume, are scheduled to begin their practices and tryouts on November 4 under the new NCHSAA plan.
About Author
