Sports

CHSAA, CYO Set Schedules for 2020-2021 Play

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The high school football, volleyball and cheerleading seasons will be pushed back to March and April, said the New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association after its meeting Sept. 11.


Gov. Andrew Cuomo labeled the three as high-risk fall sports, where athletes may be at a higher risk to contract Covid-19.


“They met and talked about it. They felt it was in the best interest of the athletes to do this,” said Kevin Pigott, the president of the boys’ CHSAA of the Archdiocese of New York and vice president of the New York State CHSAA, told CNY of the state CHSAA meeting.

The CHSAA is following a plan with high-risk fall sports similar to the one set by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Sept. 9. The Ursuline School in New Rochelle, Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen and Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia are Catholic high schools in the archdiocese that compete in the NYSPHSAA. Burke Catholic competes in Section 9, which later announced it was postponing all fall sports to March 2021.


Following the CHSAA announcement, the Catholic High School Football League of Metropolitan New York received approval from the state CHSAA to have 7 on 7 flag football in the fall. Practice began Sept. 21, and games are scheduled to begin the weekend of Oct. 10.


Practice for other fall sports—boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls bowling and fall baseball—also started Sept. 21. Teams must practice for 10 days before games and meets may begin.

Girls swimming in the archdiocese, normally a fall sport, will begin practicing Nov. 30 and will compete during the winter season.


Pigott said the CHSAA will follow guidelines from state and federal organizations to keep athletes, coaches and officials safe from coronavirus, and expects changes to the CHSAA plans as the school year continues.


“We know it’s going to change one way or another, and we’ll have to make changes along the way,” Pigott said. “This is all unprecedented for us. We hope it will improve for the better and not the other way.”


CYO Updates 2020-2021 Schedule

CYO New York released its 2020-2021 adjusted calendar of events Sept. 15, with start dates and tentative start dates for the upcoming year.


The dates are subject to change “depending on real-time conditions and governmental guidance/mandates,” according to the CYO New York website.
The first cross country meet for the fall is tentatively scheduled Sunday, Oct. 4. Start dates are Jan. 15 for indoor basketball, April 17 for baseball, softball and outdoor track, and May 6 for spring/summer basketball leagues. Staten Island CYO announced it would begin its fall bowling season Monday, Oct. 5.


The tentative cheerleading schedule shows the Staten Island CYO Championships, April 24, and the archdiocese championships, May 15.


On Sept. 18, CYO New York released its CYO Guidelines and Protocols for Covid-19, which follow the guidelines set by the New York State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.