SDHSAA Approves Spring Sports, Modifies Basketball Postseason for 2021
The South Dakota High School Activities Association has approved an on-time start for spring sports and put in contingencies for this year's basketball tournaments.
As part of a special meeting on Monday, February 1, the SDHSAA gave the green light to spring sports to start on time. Track and field, golf, and tennis will continue like normal with a few modifications in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those modifications for each sport can be found here.
Fine Arts spring programs will have recommendations sent for a March 3 meeting. Those recommendations include continuing with All-State Band (May 26-27) but split the band into two different sections. Masks and bell covers will be required for all participants. All-State Jazz Band (May 6-8) can continue as planned due to the small size of the event.
All-State Chorus and Orchestra (April 19-20) provides a different set of challenges that will be evaluated and decided on by that March 3rd meeting. With over 1,200 students participating each year from 100 different communities, the Board of Directors is trying to find the safest solution to host the event. One of the ideas that are on the table is canceling All-State Chorus and continuing with All-State Orchestra. However, again, nothing has been set in stone in regards to the plan at this point. More information about what they are considering can also be found on page 4.
In regards to the basketball postseason, the Board of Directors has approved an adjustment to the way the playoffs will work. In the event that a region (Class A/B) only has three teams that are participating, that region will join another region to form a "Super Region." If this happens, the Super Regions will consist of Region 1+2, 3+4, 5+6, 7+8. As described in the audio attached, this will help avoid a team getting a free bye into the SoDak16 for Class A and B.
State basketball ticketing has also been changed for this year. Now that the state has moved back to the old format and away from the combined girls/boys tournament, the ticketing for the games will return back to the old way. There will no longer be an all-day pass and each day will feature two sessions. The sessions will cost $10 for adults and $6 for students. The Board of Directors also said that they will do what they can to make sure that parents and family are able to access tickets before the tickets go on sale to the general public.
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