NDHSAA SAYS PLAY BALL! High School Sports To Proceed As Planned.

It's a bright light of hope for student athletes all across North Dakota.  The North Dakota High School Activities Association voted unanimously today to proceed with all activities as scheduled.  Read the full release here.  From that release here are the opening days

Boys Soccer: August 3
Football: August 10
Boys Tennis: August 10
Class A Girls Golf: August 10
Cross Country: August 10
Girls Swim/Dive: August 17
Volleyball: August 17
Student Congress: September 1 (1st Competition Date)

Let the games begin!

Well, if your school district is into that kind of thing.  Governor Doug Burgum issued an executive order laying out guidelines that must be met by individual school district in compliance with ND K-12 Smart Restart Guidance.  So the participation of these districts is up to their own discretion. Have mercy on a district that would stand in the way of getting kids off the couch and out on the field.  Soccer moms (and dads) have pretty short fuses these days.  Let me throw a wider net here- ALL PARENTS WANT THEIR KIDS OUTTA THE HOUSE!  What form that takes we shall see.  Distance learning will be part of the picture- but there's not much "distance" between offensive and defensive lines.

Since my daughter has been long out of school, I'm really watching this all from the sidelines.  But I'm rooting hard for both teams- maintaining safety vs. maintaining sanity. Can they both win? We'll find out soon enough.  KXNET reports that volleyball already has a leg up with their newly formed "sandemic" league.

This pandemic really hit home with the cancelling of the State Basketball Tournament WHILE IN PROGRESS.  This time, hopefully high school sports can progress as scheduled.