Limited fall sports will be returning for the upcoming season. Middle and high school athletes will be allowed to participate in cross country and tennis, likely with few modifications. Field hockey, soccer and cheerleading will take place with new safety regulations, which will be worked out over the next several weeks.
“It will be new things like new regulations for disinfecting the ball, penalties for intentional direct contact, electronic whistles for referees,” said Governor Gina Raimondo during a press briefing Friday.
Football and volleyball will not take place this season, because of health policies impossible to maintain.
“Volleyball is played indoors and all the players touch the same ball, so we don’t feel it is safe right now to have competitive high school volleyball,” said Raimondo. “And football obviously requires very close contact through blocking and tackling.”
The state interscholastic league, the body that organizes Rhode Island school sports, is considering pushing the volleyball and football seasons to the spring.
Interscholastic sports have been paused in Rhode Island, since the abrupt closure of schools in March. Schools are cleared to reopen fully in-person with the exception of Providence and Central Falls. The fall sports season will be truncated, beginning the week of September 21st and ending by Thanksgiving.
Students in districts that have opted for fully online school, as well as those not cleared for full in-person classes will be allowed to participate in fall sports.
