All interscholastic competition in Hawaii high school sports will be suspended indefinitely beginning Monday according to a release from the Hawaii High School Athletic Association.
The possible resumption of play will not be made without the HHSAA first consulting with the Hawaii State Department of Health and the Lt. Governor’s office according to the release.
The HHSAA has not made a decision on the status of its spring state championship events in May.
“The priority of the HHSAA continues to be the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and members of the community,” HHSAA executive director Chris Chun said in the release. “We hope that play can resume before the school year ends, but must be mindful not to jeopardize the health of our community in doing so. This decision was not made lightly and is supported unanimously by our member leagues.”
The ILH announced earlier it was suspending all athletic activities from March 16 to April 13.
Its spring season began last week. The four-week suspension of games will wipe out most of the regular season in most sports, including baseball, which began this week and was scheduled to finish its regular season on April 20.
“It was a smart move, knowing that the virus is here on the island and can spread,” Mid-Pacific Institute athletic director Scott Wagner said. “It’s good for everybody to take some time and hopefully this will pass quickly. If that happens, seniors who have been working for their final high school moment might at least be able to finish their careers.
“That would be great if we can continue after April 13 if it’s safe to do at that time. If you’ve been watching all the pro and college sports getting canceled all across the country, though, this wasn’t really a surprise.”
Other ILH spring sports that are affected are golf, judo, softball, tennis, track and field, boys volleyball and girls water polo.
So we shutting down athletics but continuing to allow tourists to fly into the state from other states where the Corona virus is a huge problem? 2 visitors tested positive on Kauai. They came from other states If our government really cared about the people, they’d shut down the airports instead of shutting down high school athletics. Kauai high playing Kapaa in baseball or softball has absolutely nothing to do with spreading the virus. But now everybody who came in contact with these 2 tourists could be infected along with all their family members.
Why shut down sports but keep schools open? The best and brightest leading Hawaii. God help us