CHAPEL HILL — The NCHSAA Board of Directors voted Wednesday morning to delay the start of fall sports at all members schools until at least Sept. 1, according to a press release.

The board also stated that Phase One of summer conditioning and workouts would continue until further notice and voted to designate the first five student instructional days of the upcoming 2020-2021 school year as a “dead period” for all sports, which would allow the school staff to focus on the start of school.

“For now, we believe these steps provide hope for our student athletes, and the possibility for playing fall sports,” NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said in a statement.

The NCHSAA is expected to finalize decisions regarding schedules and protocols in the coming days and weeks.

In her statement, Tucker stressed that the delayed start date is not “in cement” and could be delayed even longer if the data from the Department of Health and Human Services doesn’t improve.

“We acknowledge that playing certain sports are more problematic at any time without a vaccine; however, we remain in consultation with our Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) members, and they believe we can and should offer a sports program, with all necessary modifications, delays, etc,” she said. “In the coming weeks, we will continue working with the SMAC as we plan our next steps for the fall, as well as determining when equipment could be shared—i.e. balls— and/or if we can move into Phase 2 of the summer workouts/conditioning.”

The decision comes in the aftermath of Gov. Cooper’s recommendation yesterday for North Carolina schools to use a hybrid reopening plan that includes both in-person and remote learning for the upcoming school year. Richmond County Schools is expected to present its hybrid plan for approval at a meeting on Thursday evening.

“We know that many decisions are being made relative to the reopening plan your school(s) will follow,” Tucker’s statement said. “After each LEA (local education agency) has had an opportunity to formalize and finalize those reopening plans, the NCHSAA Staff will survey the membership to determine how sports should and/or can fit into the various models that will exist across the state.”

Fall sports include football, volleyball, boys/girls’ cross country, girls’ golf, boys’ soccer and girls’ tennis.

Richmond football coach Bryan Till notes that the delay likely eliminates the first two games on the team’s schedule, Aug. 21 at Clayton and Aug. 28 against Jones.

“If we start Sept. 1, it means we will have to have at least two weeks of training to get ready so that will do away with the next two weeks,” Till said.

“While it’s tough, we are trying to be patient in waiting to see what this year will look like. It’s stressful for all of us, but I continue to be optimistic about some sort of season, whether that’s abbreviated or moved to another time.”

Volleyball coach Ashleigh Larsen hopes her seniors will have the opportunity to have one last ride and a shot at a conference title.

“I’m happy to hear they are still considering a season for the fall,” Larsen said. “I hope we will be able to complete some type of workouts before that time frame. We will play the waiting game and continue praying to get sports back in these kids’ lives.”

Boys’ soccer coach Chris Larsen wishes there was more information and direction given so that coaches and athletes could plan for how to deal with the new status quo.

“I understand this is unchartered territory for everyone, but trying to plan for a successful start back to normalcy is hard when you have little to work with,” Larsen said. “If we don’t move out of phase one shortly, I would not be surprised if we didn’t get the opportunity to play games until October.”

Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2671 ext. 2748 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.