Have Under Armour High Performance Sports Face Mask ...

[BillyMac]

Have Fox 40 Electronic Whistle, Will Travel ...

The Connecticut Department of Public Health and the CIAC (our state interscholastic sports governing board) have come up with COVID-19 guidelines for 2021 winter sports season, including basketball:

- Practices will begin January 19, 2021
- 12-game regular season for basketball
- Players will wear facemasks while competing
- Officials and coaches and will wear facemasks
- Multiple mask breaks will be instituted
- Individual schools or school districts can completely cancel winter sports (as some have already done)
- Fans should be prohibited at contests, but the decision belongs to individual schools or school districts
- High-risk sports of wrestling, competitive cheer, and competitive dance will not hold any competitions or matches

These guidelines came out after the Connecticut Department of Public Health reported that contact tracing discovered only seven Connecticut student-athletes had tested positive for COVID-19 as a direct result of participation in a school sports events (practices and games) during the fall sports season, producing an estimated transmission rate of 0.021 percent.

[BillyMac]

Last minute changes today by the CIAC Board of Control:

- Canceled state championships (cuts down on long bus rides)
- All games within leagues (cuts down on long bus rides)
- Games may start no sooner than February 8, 2021
- The elimination of state championships allows schools to return at a time when they are comfortable, and play a maximum of games prior to the end of the winter season, which will be March 28, 2021
- No traveling outside Connecticut for games, and no hosting teams from outside Connecticut

[Kansas Ref]

Enjoy your season; will you also be wearing long sleeved black shirt under your ref shirt? Our director said that we could do so; however, I have not done that--I'm just using my neck gaiter continuously.

[BillyMac]

I've made the following suggestions to my local board:

1) Encourage the use of electronic whistles, since we'll all be masked there probably isn’t a need for whistle pouches, bags, or shields.
2) Come to the gym dressed in uniform, suspend the business casual rule, many schools will not be making locker rooms available to officials.
3) Game jackets should not be worn, jackets that would usually be taken off and handled by table personnel.
4) No getting to the gym early, or staying late, to observe previous, or subsequent games (possible exception for Observation and Mobility Committee).
5) Partner pregame conference on the court, not in the locker room, six feet apart, halftime conference also on the court, many schools will not be making locker rooms available to officials.

I was disappointed that, unlike other states, rule changes were not approved such that officials would never handle the ball (free throws, throwins, we will have jump balls), and that the pregame captains/coaches meeting wasn’t completely eliminated (we're going with only the referee, the head coach, and only one captain), but that was probably outside the scope of our local board, or the state board, and more of a CIAC decision.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

... will you also be wearing long sleeved black shirt under your ref shirt?

Haven't heard anything regarding that. We have a local board Zoom meeting on Sunday, January 17 when we'll "officially" hear about all the specifics and particulars.

[SNIPERBBB]

Only because the guns De empty can electronic whistles work. Worked with a guy last night that used one. It'd never fly in a loud gym setting.

[ilyazhito]

I stopped using one because coaches were complaining that they could not hear it. Now, I use a Fox 40 whistle mask instead.