Xavier Prep’s Gators and the rest of Arizona's winter sports teams are back in business !!
Less than a
week after the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Excutive Board voted 5-4
to cancel the winter sports seasons due to Covid virus concerns, the board
reconvened on Tuesday (Jan. 12) and reversed its decision by the same score
5-4, therefore allowing the teams to play as scheduled.
The AIA
received a great deal of feedback after the vote, including athletes pleading
their case outside the organization’s offices in north Phoenix.
Winter
sports are basketball, soccer and boys’ and girls’ wrestling. Xavier does not
participate in wrestling.
By AIA
mandate, athletes must wear cloth face masks at all times, including soccer,
which is played outside.
Only two
parents or guardians per player will be allowed to attend games, with no others
allowed, other than essential working personnel. Media will be allowed to cover
games, but only will if approved by the home team’s athletic director.
Home teams
also must account for social distancing. Steps also will be taken to sanitize
the equipment.
“We followed
all the volleyball protocols in the season, and we did it very well,’’ said Sr.
Lynn Winsor, Xavier Athletic Director. “All of us will have to be diligent.
“We commend
the coaches, athletes, parents and athletic trainers who made that all happen.
We will continue to follow what is necessary to keep everyone safe. It can
work.’’
Xavier
basketball will play 15 games, soccer 11. Soccer will open its season on Jan.
19 with a home match against Phoenix South Mountain, and basketball will begin
one night later, on Jan. 20, with a home game against Surprise Valley Vista.
Said AIA
Executive Director David Hines: “This has been a very difficult decision for
the Executive Board. They have been weighing the concerns of the medical
community, including the AIA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, and the
requests by our member schools. We all want winter sports to happen, but it
must be done safely.’’
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