PIAA to Gov. Wolf: If organized sports are canceled, students will just play without oversight

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf’s office Tuesday requesting a meeting to discuss the options for fall sports.

In the letter, PIAA officials explained that banning organized sports from happening won’t stop student athletes and children from playing sports.

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“Sports are going to be played by youth, whether within the PIAA structure or otherwise and that doing so within the educational umbrella may provide the safest means for that to occur,” the letter said.

Essentially, officials said students will play sports regardless -- just without the safety protocols and guidelines the PIAA structure could provide. The letter argued that student athletes would not be less at-risk without sports in the fall because they will just find other outlets.

According to the letter, PIAA officials asked Wolf for an opportunity to present “options that would permit many of our member schools to engage in fall sports in a reasonably safe environment.”

On Aug. 7, the PIAA board of directors voted to suspend the start of the fall season by two weeks in an effort to come up with a compromise with state officials.

You can read the full letter from PIAA to Wolf below:

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Cox Media Group