2020 Rhode Island Spring High School Sports Season Is Officially Canceled

2020 Rhode Island Spring High School Sports Season Is Officially Canceled

The RI Interscholastic League has announced the cancellation of all spring high school sports in RI. This follows Governor Gina Raimondo's announcement that schools will not reopen this year.

READ THE STATEMENT

In our original statement, we said that we would hold a spring season if we returned to school,” said Principals’ Committee on Athletics Chairman and Cranston High School East principal Sean Kelly.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Throughout this process, we have followed the guidelines set forth by Governor Gina Raimondo, the Rhode Island Department of Health, the Rhode Island Department of Education and our Superintendents. We are going to continue to do so. We are a school-based athletic program; therefore, if we do not return to school, we cannot return to sports.

This is obviously devastating for everyone,” Kelly continued. “It is devastating to all the student-athletes, especially the seniors who have been waiting for their final high school season. It is devastating to all the schools. It is devastating to all of our communities. It is devastating to everyone. We do not take this decision lightly. It’s awful. There’s no other way to put it.”

As we all know, we are facing unprecedented circumstances,” said RIIL Executive Director Thomas Mezzanotte. “While we have all established protocols and emergency action plans for many types of situations, we simply have no playbook to follow for this unique global health crisis. Just as we made every effort to complete the winter tournament season, we remained hopeful that at least some form of a spring sports season would be possible and spent the past several weeks exploring many scenarios in the event that it could be saved. We had the best of intentions, but unfortunately were at the mercy of this deadly virus. We are dealing with a catastrophic situation, and the only way we can respond is in a way that supports the health and safety of our student-athletes and everyone involved.”

I commend the PCOA for the hard work, expertise and attention that they have paid to these important issues,” Mezzanotte said. “These are not issues that we deal with every day.

We also commend our 36,000 student-athletes, school and district administrators, faculty, athletic directors and coaches at all our member schools. You have shown great resilience, a willingness to adapt and support our student-athletes during this unprecedented time.

To our senior student-athletes, we thank you for the positive contributions you made to your teams, schools and communities. While this worldwide event has caused you to grow up faster than planned, you all have very bright futures ahead. We hope the lessons learned while participating in education-based athletics, along with the friendships and memories made, will make a lasting impression.”

Please stay safe and continue to observe the social distancing guidelines. The RIIL will rely on the governor, department of health and the commissioner of education to guide us through this difficult time.

 

Sincerely,  

Thomas A. Mezzanotte  

Executive Director  

RI Interscholastic League