Pioneer Athletic Conference To Delay Start Of Fall 2020 Season

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — The Pioneer Athletic Conference has decided to delay the beginning of the fall 2020 sports season amid ongoing uncertainty, saying the move allows their member schools more time to finalize their sports protocols.

The start date of fall practices has been pushed back to Sept. 7, with the first competition delayed until Sept. 25.

"This will allow our school districts ample time to decide on their direction and participation in sports this fall," the 12-school league said in a statement Thursday.

Although many school districts in the local area and statewide have determined they will not participate in the fall season, like Norristown, the PIAA has given the go-ahead for sports to continue. That's despite Gov. Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Health recommending Thursday that no organized sports take place in the state until 2021.

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Others remain undecided, and the PAC is following their lead into a holding pattern. The PAC's statement suggested they were unsure the coming season would begin on the delayed start date.

"The Pioneer Athletic Conference has concerns over the safety and wellbeing of student athletes during this time of COVID-19," the statement reads. "With that being said, we will continue to monitor and evaluate the state of our member school districts and communities, surrounding leagues, and PIAA to determine if an additional delay is needed."

On Wednesday, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh said that youth sports were one of the major sources of coronavirus spread in the county. Despite the county's metrics trending in a positive direction, baseball, softball, football, field hockey, and others sports leagues are continuing to spread the virus.

"It is very hard for transmission to be avoided in settings where people are close together and not wearing masks," Arkoosh said.

Norristown Superintendent of Schools Christopher T. Dormer concurred in a July 30 announcement.

"I feel it is inappropriate and contradictory for us to allow fall sports to occur when we feel it is not prudent to have in-person instruction at this time," Dormer said, in canceling Norristown's fall sports season.

Some schools have determined that only certain sports teams can safely compete this fall. Phoenixville, for example, says that golf, singles tennis, and marching band are safe, but not anything else. Cross country, football, soccer, doubles tennis, volleyball, and field hockey were declared "not safe."

The PIAA's coronavirus guidance qualifies cross country and golf as low risk, field hockey, soccer, tennis, volleyball, and marching band as moderate risk, and football as high risk.

The Pioneer Athletic Conference is comprised of 12 schools, including Boyertown, Methacton, Owen J. Roberts, Norristown, Perkiomen Valley, Phoenixville, Pope John Paul II, Pottsgrove, Pottstown, Spring-Ford, Upper Merion, and Upper Perkiomen.