Updated Winter Sports Championships-Spring Sports COVID Regulations Announced
MONTGOMERY– The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) has approved the latest Return to Play “Best Practices” guidelines for spring sports and updated details about upcoming winter sports championships. The health and safety modifications are due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
The spring sports modifications are necessary due to current health and safety regulations that restrict venue attendance to no more than 20-percent of capacity. GoFan’s digital ticketing plan will manage the ticket limitations at each venue and will require tickets to playoff events to be purchased digitally. The spring sports include tennis, soccer, outdoor track, golf, baseball and softball.
Meanwhile, the AHSAA also set changes for some of the winter sports championships. Among the updates is a second sub-regional round for the basketball playoffs at the site of one of the participating schools in lieu of playing regional semi-finals at Region Tournament sites. The regional finals will be played at regional sites.
The State Basketball Championship will be held Feb. 26-March 6. The semi-finals and finals mill be played at one of two venues being used- Bill Harris Arena at the Birmingham CrossPlex and UAB’s Bartow Arena. The move to the locations are due to renovations at the BJCC Legacy Arena.
Indoor track competition will be held Feb. 5-6 at the CrossPlex with all events run as finals.
The State Wrestling Tournament will be held at three locations with Class 7A, which the immediate local schools partake, will be held Feb. 12-13 at Bill Harris Arena.
The championship for bowling will be held in Pelham Jan. 28-29. The format has changed due to attendance restrictions. Each classification will complete its championship action in a one-day session.
“The purpose of the ‘Return to Play Spring Sports document and the Winter Sports Championship Play modifications have always been to offer AHSAA member schools the best recommendations possible to provide more opportunities for student-athletes and schools to participate,” said Steve Savarese, AHSAA Executive Director.
