WIAA pushes fall sports back two weeks

RENTON — The WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) met July 7 and pushed back the start of fall high school sports by two weeks.

Football, previously scheduled to start August 19, will start Sept. 5; with other fall sports beginning Sept. 7. These start dates, over Labor Day weekend, would allow for games to begin no sooner than September 18.

The Washington State Health Department and Governor Jay Inslee's office have not yet approved football to begin in any of Inslee's "Safe Start" programming, including Phase 4.

The WIAA intends to meet again July 21, with the stated goal of being able to release a tentative fall schedule July 22.

"We're going to have as many meetings as we need, in order to work some of the details out, coming up for fall sports," WIAA Executive Board President and Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Athletic Director Greg Whitmore said, in a July 8 interview with Paul Beattie of Eli Sports Network in Centralia.

Whitmore told Beattie the August 19 start date never felt like a sure thing, comparing predicting fall sports to being asked at the beginning of a game what play he was going to call in the fourth quarter.

He said a committee of staff, WIAA Executive Director Mick Hoffman, board members, superintendents, principals from member schools and athletic directors would be working hard over the next two weeks to try and put together more options.

"We'll have a lot more contingency plans, and on the 21st we'll choose from some of those, the next best scenario," Whitmore said.

See the July 15 issue of the Ritzville Adams County Journal for more on this story.