NMAA releases calendar update

The New Mexico Activities Association last week released another update for its high-school sports calendar, with football being the first sport to begin its season in mid-February.

NMAA executive director Sally Marquez acknowledged in a report last week by the Las Cruces Sun-News the revision was “a last-ditch effort” to salvage sports for the 2020-2021 school year.

Tucumcari High School athletic director Wayne Ferguson said Thursday he hadn’t updated the school’s team schedules because the NMAA hadn’t given guidance on how many games should be scheduled in a further-compressed calendar.

“The number of games is going to be reduced again,” he said.

Ferguson said a meeting is scheduled with the NMAA this week to discuss game limitations.

Ferguson said there would be some overlap in sports and their practices if teams make it to the postseason. The new calendar also might create logistical problems for coaches who oversee multiple teams.

“For us, coaching is going to be an issue for a few sports,” he said. “But the overlap for teams is going to be about the same.”

The NMAA previously set October as a start date for volleyball and cross country, but Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham never approved that calendar.

Another revised calendar had sports starting Jan. 4, but Marquez said in a taped interview days before the NMAA board of directors meeting Wednesday that particular schedule became increasingly unlikely because of spiking coronavirus cases in New Mexico.

As with previous calendars during the school year, each sport will have condensed seasons, no multi-team tournaments and limited travel in an effort to curb the virus.

Here is the updated calendar:

• Football: Feb. 1 practice starting date; season begins Feb. 19; April 3 state championships;

• Cross country: Feb. 15 starting date; season begins Feb. 20; March 19-20 state championships;

• Volleyball: Feb. 15 starting date; season begins Feb. 20; March 29-April 3 state championships;

• Spirit: March 22 starting date; May 14-15 state championships;

• Basketball: March 22 starting date; season begins March 27; May 3-8 state championships;

• Wrestling: March 29 starting date; season begins April 5; May 27-29 state championships;

• Baseball: April 5 starting date; season begins April 10; June 21-26 state championships;

• Softball: April 5 starting date; season begins April 10; June 21-26 state championships;

• Golf: April 5 starting date; season begins April 10; June 21-22 state championships;

• Track and field: April 5 starting date; season begins April 10; June 17-19 and June 24-26 state championships.

Marquez said the NMAA cannot unilaterally schedule games without state approval.

“Although we are a nonprofit organization, we are a semi-quasi-education entity,” she said. “So we fall under the education department. So we need to follow the public health order by the governor when it comes to competition. We cannot just go out on a limb and do what we want to do.”