AURORA | The Colorado High School Activities Association issued its long-awaited calendar for the 2020-21 prep sports season Tuesday afternoon and it featured sports and activities divided into four seasons instead of the usual three.
Colorado is the 10th state to postpone the start of football because of coronavirus concerns and it has chosen to move it into 2021 according to a release from CHSAA sent to local media. According to the calendar, football is set to begin practice on Feb. 22, 2021, while boys soccer, volleyball, field hockey and gymnastics also were moved from the fall to the spring with March 1 openings.
Cross country became the only other sport added to the fall offerings, which also include boys golf (which opened practice Monday), boys tennis and softball. Cross country practice is scheduled to begin Aug. 12 with competition approved to start Aug. 15.
“Everything is not ideal,” CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green said in a Zoom call with local media. “Anytime you go outside of the norm, it’s not ideal. We’re a 100-year-old organization and our norms are set for us and our seasons are set for us. But at the end of the day, we’re in a pandemic and we are charged with creating opportunities for our kids.”
Earlier in the day, Aurora Public Schools administration announced approval for the participation of athletes from its schools in the fall sports that are offered, despite the district’s plan to begin with remote learning for the entire first quarter. The Cherry Creek School District is expected to release its final plan for the start of the school year on Thursday and has stated that it won’t participate in fall sports if school begins remotely.
The winter season remains intact with boys and girls basketball, ice hockey, girls swimming and wrestling competing together as usual, but the start date has been shifted to Jan. 4.
Spring sports that lost their entire 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic will be part of the last of the four seasons with an amended calendar that has most sports beginning on April 26 and stretching into late June to conclude championships.
Blanford-Green said that back in June, CHSAA was optimistic that all athletics and activities would be able to resume as normal, but had the quadrant setup as one of its contingency plans.
“I definitely feel like we have enough space and time to at least provide some level of competition for our kids (with this calendar),” Blanford-Green said.
Blanford-Green also said having an approved calendar in place will help CHSAA work on securing facilities for state championships. Many of them currently are TBD on the calendar.
All seasons will see a reduction in the amount of regular season competition as well as changes in the postseason format.
For football, Assistant Commissioner Adam Bright said eight teams will qualify for the playoffs in each classification and the field will be set based on the CHSAA seeding index that is a formula that comes from a combination of RPI, MaxPreps, Coaches Poll and Packard rankings.
Blanford-Green said CHSAA “fought hard” for cross country to be included in the approved fall sports and it was with some guidelines: 25 runners per gender per race for a regular season race, 75 per gender per race for regionals and 100 per gender per race per classification for the state meet.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2020-21 CHSAA PREP SPORTS CALENDAR
SEASON A
— Boys Golf (198 holes): First practice Aug. 3, first competition Aug. 6, state championship Oct. 5-6
— Softball (max 16 contests): First practice Aug. 10, first competition Aug. 13, state championship Oct. 10
— Boys tennis: First practice Aug. 10, first competition Aug. 13, state championship Sept. 25-26
— Cross country (max 7 contests): First practice Aug. 12, first competition Aug. 15, state championship Oct. 17
SEASON B
— Basketball (max 16 contests 4A-5A): First practice Jan. 4, first competition Jan. 7, state championship March 6
— Ice hockey (max 13 contests): First practice Jan. 4, first competition Jan. 7, state championship TBD
— Girls swimming (max 7 meets plus league): First practice Jan. 4, first competition Jan. 7, state championship TBD
— Boys & girls wrestling (max 7 duals plus 7 days): First practice Jan. 4, first competition Jan. 7, state championship March 6
— Competitive spirit: First practice Jan. 4, first competition Jan. 7
SEASON C
— Football (max 7 contests): First practice Feb. 22, first competition March 4, state championship May 8
— Girls volleyball (Max 16 contests): First practice March 1, first competition March 4, state championship May 1
— Field hockey (max 10 contests): First practice March 1, first competition March 4, state championship TBD)
— Boys soccer (max 10 contests): First practice March 1, first competition March 4, state championship TBD
— Unified Bowling (max 6 contests): First practice March 1, first competition March 4, state championship TBD
— Gymnastics (max 8 contests): First practice March 1, first competition March 4, state championship TBD
SEASON D
— Baseball (max 16 contests): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship June 26
— Girls Soccer (max 10 contests): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship TBD
— Boys Swimming (max 7 meets plus league): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship TBD
— Track & Field (max 8 meets): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship TBD
— Boys lacrosse (max 10 contests): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship TBD
— Girls lacrosse (max 10 contests): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship June 23
— Girls tennis: First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship, June 11-12
— Boys volleyball (max 16 matches): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship June 19
— Girls golf (max 198 holes): First practice April 26, first competition April 29, state championship TBD
