The area high school and youth winter sports season will officially begin a week from Monday. However, for now the Hull teams are still on the sidelines waiting to get into the game. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Board of Directors, after hearing recommendations from the MIAA Sports Medicine Committee and the MIAA COVID-19 Task Force, signed off on allowing the majority of high school winter sports to be played this season, albeit with safety restrictions and a two-week delay in the start date.
The traditional winter season start date is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Basketball, hockey, gymnastics, skiing, and swimming and diving can all begin practicing no earlier than Dec. 14 for a season that must be concluded by Feb. 21. Indoor track was moved to the newly created Fall-2 season, which is scheduled to begin on Feb. 22; wrestling was moved to the spring season, which is scheduled to get underway on April 26.
For Hull, that means that the girls’ and boys’ basketball programs and the Hull-Cohasset co-op hockey team are allowed to play, if they choose to do so. But the Hull school administration has not yet given the green light. “The safety and health of our school community is our top priority,” said Hull School Superintendent Judith Kuehn. “We are working as a team and taking our time to iron out the details to determine if we can safely offer a winter season. We will have a decision soon.”
Youth Basketball in a time-out
As the high school sports go, so goes the youth programs, which has the Hull Youth Basketball program still waiting for the whistle to start play. Because most of the school gymnasiums are closed, it appears that the local In-Town and Instructional Programs will not have a season, according to Hull Youth Basketball president Dan Dahill.
The travel programs are still slated to play but will need to access private facilities, such as the U-Complex at Starland in Hanover, to schedule games. The Hull boy’s travel teams are scheduled to begin on Jan. 2, with the girls tipping off the season on Jan. 9. The HYB board met on Thursday of this week to discuss final plans. Details of that meeting will be provided in next week’s “In the Sportlight.”
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