Pittsburgh Public Schools postpones City League winter sports until January

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, December 3, 2020 | 10:56 AM

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Pittsburgh Public Schools has delayed the start of winter sports in the City League until at least January.

According to a news release Thursday, the district’s athletic committee met the day before and recommended postponing basketball, wrestling and all other winter sports seasons. The district said the committee will reconvene in early January to revisit its recommendation.

“The recommendations follow reports of increased number for covid-19 that indicate a substantial community transmission level in Allegheny County,” the district wrote.

PIAA schools were allowed to start practice Nov. 20, but Pittsburgh Public Schools already had delayed that date once. City League teams planned to start workouts Friday. That’s on hold now.

“I was a little disappointed for the seniors especially,” Allderdice boys basketball coach Devin Crummie said. “A lot of the teams in the city try get out and schedule games against WPIAL teams and teams from other districts to get kids exposure. But obviously those games won’t be able to be played or will have to be rescheduled.”

When the winter sports season resumes in the City League, teams will be required to complete 15 preseason practices before they can begin competition. Crummie’s team had early-season matchups scheduled with Pine-Richland, Upper St. Clair and Norwin.

WPIAL teams are scheduled to begin competition Dec. 11.

Crummie said he agrees with the district’s desire to keep athletes safe. TCity League boys basketball coaches sent a letter to PPS superintendent Anthony Hamlet detailing the covid-19 safety measures already in place at their practices.

“The kids want to play and they’re going to find other avenues,” Crummie said. “They’re going to find AAU teams. They’re going to find trainers. They’re going to find independent leagues to play in. I’m glad they’re going to be able to do that, but I think we could have made sure we had the right protocols in place and kept them as safe as they could be.”

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.

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