‘New territory for everyone’: NMAA releases sports calendar in face of pandemic

WINDOW ROCK

As promised the New Mexico Activities Association released an amended sports calendar for the 2020-21 season.

With the intent of playing all sports for the upcoming school year, NMAA Executive Director Sally Marquez said she is hopeful that they can stick to the amended schedule that was released on July 15 by the NMAA with each sports season lasting 10 weeks.

“I am hopeful,” she said, noting that the NMAA has a good model in place to ensure that the student-athletes’ health and safety are a top priority amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marquez said they are going to continue to communicate with the state’s public education department as well as the governor’s office in regards to the ongoing health crisis.

The tentative start date for cross-country and fall season golf is Sept. 14 with volleyball beginning on Oct. 5. The state cross-country meet will be held Nov. 13-14 while the state volleyball tournament is scheduled Dec. 4-12.

The two other traditional fall sports – football and soccer – will start in mid-February as New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an executive order to suspend all contact sports for the rest of the year.

The state soccer tournament will take place on April 12-17 while the football playoffs will run from April 23 to May 8.

Basketball, meanwhile, will start on Jan. 4 with the state tournament scheduled for March 1-13.

Baseball and softball will start on April 5 and end on June 21-26.

Like Marquez, Navajo Prep Athletic Director Rainy Crisp is hoping that the pandemic does not alter what’s being presented by the NMAA.

“It’s hard to say for sure that that these things are going to happen but I’m staying hopeful,” she said. “It’s one of those things that we can’t control because we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, next week or next month. That’s the most frustrating thing about this pandemic – we just don’t know, so it’s out of our hands.”

Nonetheless, Crisp said she’s been telling all Navajo Prep athletes that they are going to have a season.

“I’m just giving them something for them to look forward to,” she said. “I think it’s really important to give them some sense of normalcy, considering what we’re going through with this pandemic.”

Zuni High Dean of Students Chris Carroll said the start dates are hypothetical.

“We might not even start on September 14,” he said. “That’s what the schedule says but if this thing starts spiking up again then the NMAA is going to hold off the cross-country and volleyball season until February.”

Carroll said the upcoming calendar year is going to be interesting and he understands that the NMAA is trying to do their best to accommodate the student-athletes they serve.

“This is unprecedented and this is new territory for everyone, not just New Mexico but across the United States,” he said. “I think everyone is trying to take it as they can but we do need athletics.

“Some of these kids need athletics and that’s why they’re in school,” he added. “Some of them need it for athletic scholarships. If they don’t do the sport then they don’t have an opportunity of getting a scholarship. That’s their ticket to get to college.”

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