EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Under normal circumstances, the high school winter sports season would be underway, but this year, it’s not happening just yet.
The R.I. Interscholastic League (RIIL) has allowed winter sports to begin practices, but when they can start playing games is still in question.
Executive Director of RIIL Mike Lunney is in his first year and says they usually are in the midst of long-term planning, but it has been more day-to-day due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Now our focus is completely on trying to get the winter season up and running,” Lunney said. “Most of our schools have started, and some have not, they’ll be starting next week but we still haven’t gotten clearance for games yet.”
Lunney continued to say that is is a day-to-day process with the R.I. Department of Health and the Gov. Gina Raimondo’s team, along with the principals and superintendents to make sure everything is put in place safety-wise to give the kids a good experience.
“The reason they haven’t given us a definitive date yet is they want to see what the post-holiday spike may or may not be,” Lunney said. “So I don’t think they really have that information yet but from a planning standpoint we need to know sooner rather than later.”
Lunney is hoping for more guidance and information from Raimondo when she holds her first coronavirus briefing of the year on Friday.
