Nebraska high school sports won’t have any big changes. Yet.
The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) Board of Directors met Monday morning to discuss changes for fall sports at a special Zoom meeting. The group left after reaffirming an August 10 start date without any major changes.
Practices for the six fall sports — cross country, football, girls golf, softball, boys tennis, and volleyball — can begin next week. Those with a Week 0 football game, including North Star, can start practicing Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
The Board left districts with the flexibility to delay activities due to COVID-19 concerns. Schools will need to communicate with the NSAA on COVID matters, including games called off or changed during the season. Games not played due to COVID-19 will count as a no contest for wild card points and not as a forfeit.
While the start of the seasons was affirmed at the meeting, changes, including expanded or condensed playoffs, could be decided later.
The Board also declined to change transfer rules. Omaha Public Schools shut down workouts last week for the remainder of the summer, leading to speculation that fall activities would share the same fate. Seven OPS high schools sponsor NSAA activities. The OPS Board is set to meet Tuesday but athletics is not on the agenda.
NSAA executive director Jay Bellar said parents from California have been in contact about Nebraska’s transfer rules. After California shut down sports through the rest of 2020, families are looking for places to send their kids to play.
Unless a waiver is created or a family moves into a new district, NSAA rules state a student will have to sit out 90 school days at their new school before becoming eligible for varsity athletics. Without any changes to the calendar, day 90 at Lincoln Public Schools at the high school level is January 5.