After Friday vote, Kansas will offer ‘Alternative fall’ option to move sports to spring

Kansas high school sports officially have a backup plan in place.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) Board of Directors voted 53-21 Friday to approve a proposal establishing an “Alternative fall” schedule that gives each school the ability to move any or all fall 2020 activities to spring 2021. The vote followed a unanimous Monday vote in favor of the option by KSHSAA’s executive board.

Kansas high schools have been split into two “bands,” or groups: Class 6/5A and Class 4/3/2/1A. If at least half of the schools in each of those bands cancel fall activities, that majority would trigger the switch to a spring sports schedule.

If all fall activities are moved to spring, Kansas would become the 18th state, as of Friday, to not play football this fall, according to the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS). Without any changes to the KSHSAA schedule, Kansas would be one of 14 states progressing as usual.

According to the approved proposal, if fall activities are moved to the spring, there will be no state championship events. Teams would instead be encouraged to schedule league-title games or rivalry games for their final events of the season.

The move to an “Alternative fall” would also affect typical spring sports. The adjusted schedule calls for a 26-day overlap, stacking fall and spring sports on top of each other and effectively forcing student-athletes who compete in one sport each fall and a different one each spring to choose between those two sports.

On top of that selection process, athletes would also need to decide whether to compete for their high school program or potentially for an offseason club team, if he or she has the financial ability.

Although there are several potholes in the proposal, it could provide schools and athletes another avenue through which to compete if the COVID-19 pandemic worsens dramatically.

Here is what the schedule would look like if a school decides to move all or some fall sports to spring 2021:

• Football, volleyball, boys soccer, cross country, girls golf, girls tennis and gymnastics move their seasons to start March 1.
• First days of competitions: Girls golf, girls tennis would start March 5; volleyball would start March 12; football, cross country would begin March 17; gymnastics would start March 19.
• Final days of competitions: Girls golf would end April 12; girls tennis would finish April 17; football, volleyball, boys soccer, cross country and gymnastics would all wrap up April 23.
• Number of competitions: Football teams would have 6 games; volleyball teams would play 27 matches; boys soccer would play 12; cross country would have 5 meets; girls golf and girls tennis would play 6 times; Gymnastics teams would compete 8 times.

Here is how that move would affect regularly scheduled spring sports:

• Beginning of seasons: Moved from March 1 to March 28 for baseball, softball, girls soccer, track and field, girls swimming and diving, boys tennis, boys golf.
• Final days of competitions: boys tennis would be June 12; girls swimming and diving June 19; boys golf June 21; baseball, softball June 25; girls soccer, track and field June 26.
• Number of competitions: baseball and softball teams would play 20 games; girls soccer would play 16; track and field teams would have 8 meets; girls swimming and diving teams 10 meets; boys tennis and boys golf would play 8 competitions.
• All state meets and playoffs would be played as scheduled.

Along with a change in schedule, KSHSAA proposed many other rule changes for the “Alternative fall” and “Extended spring” plans:

This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 5:09 PM with the headline "After Friday vote, Kansas will offer ‘Alternative fall’ option to move sports to spring."

Hayden Barber

The Wichita Eagle

316-269-6760

Wichita Eagle preps reporter Hayden Barber brings the area updates on all high school sports while adding those hard-to-find human-interest stories on Wichita’s student-athletes.