New Mexico announces new plan for high school fall sports
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M (BVM) — High school athletic competitions will take place again in New Mexico, but this year’s fall sports schedule will have a much different look.
The New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) on July 16 released an amended calendar for the 2020-21 academic year with the biggest changes taking place with football and soccer as both sports will be moved from fall to winter.
The move came a week after New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that contact sports would not be allowed at the high school level this fall due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. NMAA executive director Sally Marquez said she’s hopeful about the new plan, which affects numerous sports besides football and soccer, but the schedule could still be altered.
“This is plan B and I guarantee we’re going to have Plan C, D, E and F,” Marquez said in an NMAA press release. “We just do not know. The guidelines say subject to change. All I ask is the coaches, the athletes, the parents, superintendents and athletic directors, we have to be flexible. We are educators, and that’s one thing that was always drilled in our heads is to be flexible. We have to be flexible.”
Football will have a seven-game regular season which will start Feb. 22, 2021 and championships will be held in late April or early May depending on classification. Soccer will begin Feb. 15 with championships held from April 12-17. Cross country, golf and volleyball are the only three sports scheduled to begin before the end of 2020. Cross country and golf will start Sept. 14 and volleyball is slated to begin Oct. 5.
Basketball will also be significantly impacted with the new plan. The shortened schedule for both boys and girls will begin Jan. 4 and championships will be held during the first two weeks of March.
The start dates, particularly for sports slated to begin in 2020, are still tentative. Marquez said the current plan in place is not ideal because of the potential overlapping of sports in 2021, but she continued to emphasize the importance of flexibility from parents, coaches and administrators as they try to give athletes the best chance to play all of the games they want to.
“If that means a student athlete plays two sports at once for a couple weeks, then that’s what happens,” Marquez said in the press release. “Does that mean our coaches have to work with the club world when it comes to soccer? That might have to happen to make sure our students get the best experience. … I ask parents, you need to work with all of us, we are trying the best we can to make sure our student athletes get to play the games that they love. I’m excited to see that we do have a plan.”
