HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARIZONA WILL BE PLAYING FALL SPORTS THIS YEAR, the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) decided Wednesday. — High schools in Arizona will be playing fall sports this year, the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) decided Wednesday.
The AIA board made the decision at a Wednesday's meeting after reviewing a report by its sports medicine advisory board. The AIA will also release updated safety recommendations for school athletics that will be released soon.
Pima County school districts have already notified the AIA that they will not schedule any games unless the Pima County Health Department gives the OK.
But Mica Mountain assistant principal Jay Campos says Wednesday's decision from the AIA does not mean games will go forward.
"It's going to be a district-by-district decision on who plays sports and who doesn't, even though the AIA stuck with the timeline, and they're going to be giving these opportunities for fall sports to begin -- and some of them have already begun, at least for practice," Campos said. "A lot of districts are not going to begin full-blown sports until we have full in-person instruction."
Right now, many Tucson-area schools have been in a Phase 1 return to athletics.
At Tucson High, voluntary workouts for football players have been every other day. Seven people are in each workout cohort, kind of like their own bubble. There are four or five of those.
Football will actually be the last to start playing. According to the AIA timeline, that's set to be Oct. 2. Socially distant golf and cross country are first.
