TUCSON, Arizona — David Hines is the AIA executive director for who has the challenge of trying to please high school athletes, school districts, as well as health officials.
"I’m frustrated that our kids are having to go through this," says Hines of the delayed season.
Hines is trying to get high school athletes back on the field safely. However, his phased restart to already have full practices in all sports has been deemed too soon by southern Arizona school districts and health officials.
"I’m going to respect decisions that they make, but I don’t know how metrics get better. The metrics have been as good as they have been since coronavirus started."
If more time is needed, a high school football season could start as late as late October. Teams would play just five regular season games.
Hines says the AIA will be flexible.
"We’ve worked with all of our conferences and all of our schools and said that we would like them to have some semblance of a season. If that means they are delayed as a school, that means we will work with you as a school or a district if that’s the case."
Hines says half the country is playing high school football successfully.
"This is not going away anytime soon, and we’re doing everything in power to mitigate the possible spread of this."
