The state of New York has decided to adjust its high school athletics schedule, approving a move to cut a week off of the fall, winter and spring seasons.
The decision was made at the state public high school athletic association’s executive meetings in Saratoga this week. The change is aimed at giving teen athletes and extra week of summer vacation for jobs or travel and to prevent overlaps with previous seasons in the start of winter and spring sports.
As a result of the move the start of the fall high school sports season will be pushed back to Aug. 24 in 2020.
State championship weekends in all sports except football will be wrapped up before Thanksgiving. Football finals will take place the weekend of Dec. 4.
Fayetteville-Manlius athletics director Scott Sugar, along with a few other school officials, was instrumental in bringing the idea to the association.
“There’s a lot of kids who have summer jobs. It allows them to have a little bit more of a break.” Sugar told Syracuse.com. “We can offer the same product (in fall) with a little bit longer of a summer.”
While the changes won’t officially go into effect statewide until the 2020-21 school year, the schedule has already implemented for the winter and spring seasons for the 2019-20 year, Sugar said.
