The Ohio High School Athletic Association on Friday issued an update on the status of its winter sports tournaments and the spring season.
Earlier in the week, the OHSAA first decided to remove the general public from attending its state tournaments for girls basketball, wrestling and ice hockey as a result of ongoing concerns with the spread of the coronavirus.. On Thursday, it was announced all of the remaining winter tournaments were being postponed.
In a press release Friday, the OHSAA stated it is assessing the situation with the winter tournaments daily, with it “being impossible to make a determination today” whether they can be rescheduled.
Also, the OHSAA announced a mandatory no-contact period for all sports will run from March 17 through April 5. All athletic facilities used for practices and training are also ordered to be shut down during this time.
Athletes and schools will be subject to punishment by the OHSAA if they do not adhere to the no-contact period.
As for teams that have previously scheduled out-of-state trips during the next three weeks, schools are strongly urged to cancel those trips. However, in the event that a refund can’t be obtained, the OHSAA said it has no choice but to permit the trip to continue.
Moving forward, the OHSAA has tentatively set the dates of April 6-10 for spring practices to resume. Regular-season contests will be allowed to start April 11 and postseason tournaments will stick to the current schedule.
Riverside athletic director Rod Yoder said Friday afternoon that only league contests lost to the delayed start of the spring season will be rescheduled.