PIAA wants to move forward with fall sports, executive director tells legislators

By: Chris Harlan
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 | 1:23 PM

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The PIAA wants to move forward with fall sports, executive director Bob Lombardi told state legislators Tuesday, citing favorable data collected by UPMC athletic trainers.

His words were an early indication the governor’s wishes will be ignored.

“It is worth at least attempting to pursue a fall sports program,” said Lombardi, who discussed the status of high school athletics with the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers.

“We would like to move forward with the start of fall sports,” Lombardi added. “It is important to make this attempt.”

The PIAA board will decide Friday whether to allow sports to continue against the guidance of Gov. Tom Wolf, who strongly recommended youth sports shut down until January over covid-19 concerns.

Lombardi noted Tuesday that the governor’s staff provided “no specific medical or research reason that would suggest participation in interscholastic sports inherently increases that risk.”

By contrast, the PIAA provided legislators with data compiled by UPMC athletic trainers during pre-workout screenings this summer. One sample, which included 19,911 screenings, identified 41 athletes who had an elevated temperature.

Of those, only three tested positive for covid-19 — the equivalent of 0.015%.

“Those are the numbers we’ve been looking for all along,” PIAA associate executive director Melissa Mertz said after the committee meeting. “Since June, we gave the green light for schools to open up their campuses and their athletic fields and weight rooms and gyms to let kids have out-of-season voluntary workouts. We had not been hearing of any mass outbreaks or any major issues.

“Now we have the numbers to back that up.”

The data was gathered from schools in multiple counties, including Allegheny, Westmoreland and Butler.

“They’re significant,” Mertz said. “It further reiterates the interest and the desire for us to move forward with high school sports.”

A second spreadsheet provided by the PIAA counted one positive case among 10,389 screenings. Some schools appeared on both lists, making it unclear whether data overlapped.

Lombardi acknowledged the data doesn’t constitute a systematic study but rather a sample of what’s happening across the state.

“While we certainly cannot guarantee that problems will not arise, we believe we’ve developed a reasonably safe environment for competition at the interscholastic level,” he said.

If the PIAA ignores Wolf’s advice, there are no plans to turn his recommendation into a mandate, Health Secretary Rachel Levine said Tuesday.

Levine did not participate in the oversight hearing. She spoke at an unrelated news conference.

The Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee also heard from Sean McAleer of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, along with select school district representatives. North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto was among the administrators to testify.

Three of the six oversight committee members represent Western Pennsylvania: state Sen. Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, and state Reps. Mike Reese, R-Westmoreland, and Rob Matzie, D-Beaver.

“In general, it’s always easy just to say no,” Reese said. “It’s easy to take a one-size-fits-all approach, but I think our kids deserve more than that. … We should at least try to give these kids some sense of normal going into the fall, both in the classroom and on the field of play.”

Lombardi stressed that a shutdown of interscholastic athletics won’t eliminate the risk of coronavirus spread among youth athletes because private sports teams and clubs will continue to operate.

“Come fall, if schools are unable to engage in sports and absent another mandatory shutdown, families and students will not stop playing,” Lombardi said. “They will simply find other outlets.”

Lombardi highlighted issues for which state help is needed. If the PIAA board votes Friday to move forward, individual school districts must decide whether going against Wolf’s recommendation creates potential legal liability.

For that reason, Lombardi is seeking protection for schools.

“The administration providing legal immunity from any liability from covid-19 would really change the landscape for our schools,” Lombardi said.

Adding covid-19 coverage to the PIAA’s current insurance “may be cost prohibitive,” he said.

Lombardi also raised concerns about the 25-person limit on indoor gatherings and a complete ban on spectators at interscholastic events put in place by the governor.

The PIAA requested relief from both.

Rather than 25 individuals, Lombardi suggested raising the indoor limit for gyms and pools to 25% of capacity. The PIAA also wants to let at least two immediate family members attend as spectators.

Matzie said he has heard from a number of constituents who are concerned about fall sports, and they weren’t only parents of athletes.

“Telling a band mom, especially, or a band dad that they can’t go watch their babies participate is very difficult,” Matzie said. “It’s their season, too. I know that’s not something that falls under the PIAA specifically as it relates to sports, but from a spectator position, that needs to be discussed also.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.