The Kansas State High School Activities Association held an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon with the Board of Directors with the decision on when to begin winter sports at the forefront and the Board voted to move on with the winter season as normal by a vote of 55-22.

In discussing whether to delay the start of the winter season, Olathe North’s Jason Herman motioned that competition would be allowed in December until December 22 and then no competition again until January 15 with no fans until January 28.

That amendment passed by a vote of 44-25, meaning that winter sports will start on time and go until December 23 and then take the holiday break before getting back in action on January 14.

There was then a motion to that amendment to allow schools to begin competition on January 8 and that passed by a 41-34 vote.  

In summary, winter sports will begin on time and run until December 22 before taking the holiday break until competition begins back on January 8.

The meeting began with a public forum with board members giving pleas to not delay the winter sports season. Those members that agreed discussed the mental impact not having sports plays with student-athletes and gave a few options on how to proceed with the season.

Jeff Pierce of Eudora gave a plea to not delay the winter sports season and had his daughter, a senior, talk about the impact it would have on her if the season were delayed.

He presented to the board that the season should not be pushed back and that limiting fans could possibly help mitigate the potential contraction of COVID-19.

Among those that spoke was Dr. David Smtih, a team physician for the Kansas City Royals, who mentioned that COVID numbers at the health systems are at an all-time high, but that winter sports should go on although with a delay that KSHSAA presented last week.

Smith also mentioned that if winter sports do take place, fans and parents must do better regarding trying to mitigate the spread at competitions.

KSHSAA Executive Director then gave an overview of the process the staff has used, and an overview of motion presented before the Board of Directors.

Following the public forum, Paola’s Jeff Hines motioned to move items 10 and 11 above No. 5 in the order of items to be discussed with No. 10 amended giving member schools the ultimate decision on limiting fans at competitions with the amendment passing by a 61-16 vote.

The board then had a lengthy discussion on item No. 10 with several members stating that a uniform decision needs to be made on attendance allowed at competitions with item No. 10 passing by a 70-7 vote allowing local agencies to determine attendance policies.

As to item No. 11, the board voted 76-1 in favor of requiring face masks for all in attendance at competitions except for those in competitions and officials during active play.

The next item proposed to the board was the period of contact dates be moved from December 23 through December 27 to December 23 through January 3 and that passed by a vote of 42-34.

The board then went through the discussion of when to start the season with the resulting vote being that winter sports will start on time, go until December 22 then take a break until resuming competition on January 8.

In another big item presented before the board was the issue of fans being allowed at competitions and it was amended that no fans would be allowed from December 1 through January 28 and that passed by a vote of 51-25.

An amendment was then presented allowing two spectators per each athlete at competitions and that amendment was voted down by a vote of 29-46.

Regarding the motion of item No. 8 , it passed by a vote of 50-26 which ensures that fans would not be allowed at high school competitions from Dec. 1 through January 28.

Middle school will adopt the same motion, not allowing fans as competitions until January 29. 

The board then amended item No. 12 which limited the number of teams allowed at tournaments and the motion to allow four teams to play in tournament concourantly and eight teams allowed in wrestling tournaments or 112 participants passed 59-15. 

Eight teams can still participate in tournaments as long as there are two gyms to accomodate. 

It was also amended that teams would be allowed to play a maximum of 20 regular season games as normal compared to just 13 games as originally proposed by KSHSAA. 

The meeting wrapped up with the board taking no action on items 14, 15 and 16 which essentially equaled high school basketballs motion of keeping competitions at current max allowed for swimming, wrestling and bowling. 

By most standards the meeting was a success and although there will be some upset with the decisions made, but in the end student-athletes get to play which should be a win for all.