Friday, August 21
The SWAL Athletic Conference met today to vote on participation in a high school fall sports season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today was the culminating event after a series of meetings over the last month. Each school district administration was asked to obtain guidance from their school board prior to the vote.
The conference vote was split. The Mineral Point School Board voted yesterday to allow high school cross country, boys soccer, and volleyball to take place in the fall. A tie vote from the School Board yesterday regarding moving football to the spring means Mineral Point will also be playing football this fall. The competition will be different as many schools opted to play in the spring. Our Athletic Director, Vickie Dahl, will be making schedule changes to provide our teams with opponents to fill out the seasons.
The WIAA has set up guidelines for returning to sports that each school will need to follow, along with the current executive order on face coverings. Sports are divided into risk categories from low to high depending on the level of contact and potential for social distancing. More detailed information on the WIAA guidelines can be found here: https://www.wiaawi.org/Portals/0/PDF/Health/Covid/WIAA-Return-to-Fall-Sports.pdf
Another change that will take place this fall will be a limit on the number of people that can attend athletic events in-person. The host school will determine how many fans they can safely allow in, with face coverings, and notify the opponent. Mineral Point will follow this practice. Each school district is also working on arrangements that will allow for events to be streamed live over the internet. Mineral Point is currently working to purchase and install the necessary equipment so we can live-stream our home events to any fans that want to watch, but do not have tickets to attend in person.
High school cross country practice started August 17 with boys soccer, football, and volleyball set to begin practice September 7. Cross country and boys soccer are part of the co-op with Dodgeville.
Thank you for your continued patience and flexibility. We will keep you updated with additional information as we receive it.
If you have any questions regarding athletics, please reach out to Vickie Dahl at vickie.dahl@mp.k12.wi.us