NJSIAA Announces Spring Sports Season Dates

ROBBINSVILLE, NJ — When Gov. Phil Murphy closed schools across New Jersey in March and kept them on virtual instruction through the end of the 2019-2020 school year because of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of athletes across the state lost the spring high school sports season.

The NJSIAA is trying to make sure they have a spring season this year that's as close to complete as possible.

The association, which oversees high school sports across New Jersey, released its plan for the spring sports season, which pushes back the dates but preserve as much of the season as possible, including statewide championships.

At the same time, it's designed to minimize overlap with the sports being played in "Season 2A and Season 3," to ensure that multi-sport athletes don't have to give up one sport in favor of another.

For all spring sports, virtual contact may start on March 1. Boys tennis practices will begin on March 26, with competition starting April 19. Golf practices start April 1, with competition starting April 9.

Baseball and softball pitchers and catchers may start practicing March 26. For all other spring season sports, April 1 will be the first day for practices, with competition beginning April 19. For all spring sports, competition ends no later than June 20.

In a typical year, spring practices start in the cold weather of early March and state tournaments wind up in early June; under the announced schedule, competitions will continue past graduation for most of the state's high schools.

"After the loss of the spring 2020 season, we want to ensure every student-athlete has the opportunity to participate in each sport they would have during a normal year," said Dave Frazier, chair of the NJSIAA's Sports Advisory task force.

Tournament information for all spring sports will be available no later than Feb. 15, the NJSIAA said. Out-of-state competition continues to be banned, following orders from the state Department of Health and Murphy's office.

Winter sports have been faced with a compressed season, with basketball, fencing and bowling starting practice Jan. 11, swimming and winter track beginning Feb. 1, and wrestling, girls volleyball and gymnastics (the latter two of which were moved from the fall) starting practices on March 1.

Ice hockey, which was scheduled to start practices on Monday, is permitted only outdoor practices until Jan. 3, after Murphy issued an order Dec. 4 pausing indoor sports competition and practices until January.

"Multi-sport athletes should be celebrated, and not made to choose between two sports that they love," said Colleen Maguire, chief operating officer of the NJSIAA. "As a result of indoor practices and competition being suspended per Executive Order No. 204, some overlap between seasons is unavoidable. But based on our latest plan, student-athletes will still have the opportunity to compete during all seasons."

Hockey games can start Jan. 15 and the season is being extended to March 6, because of the constraints on ice time. Basketball, fencing and bowling competitions begin Jan. 26 and the seasons end March 6. Swimming and winter track competitions begin Feb. 16 and end March 27, and wrestling, girls volleyball and gymnastics competitions begin March 16 and end April 24.

There will be no state tournaments for basketball, fencing, bowling, swimming or winter track. The NJSIAA is still weighing state tournament possibilities for wrestling, gymnastics and girls volleyball.

All winter sports competitions will be held without spectators, instead limited to just the athletes, coaches and referees, under Murphy's Executive Order 196 that limits indoor gatherings to 10 people.

Maguire said participation in any in-season sport must take priority over virtual workouts or virtual meetings related to an out-of-season sport.

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