Open 2022 Winter Sectionals for Team Sports

Jan 13

January 13^th, 2022. The Section III Athletic Council approved to offer an Open Sectional Tournament for team sports in the Winter 2022 sport season for Boys & Girls Basketball, Boys and Girls Volleyball and Ice Hockey.

Effective: Only for the Winter 2022 season

Rational:
During this school year, member schools have dealt with a variety of COVID restrictions while still trying to honor regular season scheduling commitments which has created an uneven approach from a competitive standpoint and Sectional qualifying standards. Schools have had to participate with reduced rosters, lack of certified coaches, available officials, facility availability and transportation issues.

Section III Position Statement:

Regular season:

Schools are expected to honor their initial regular season commitments if they can field a team with less than full squads for the sport. The chart below should be used as a guide for when teams are still expected to play and when it’s the school's decision due to the low number of eligible players. Schools are also expected to honor the regular season commitment if they have at least one Board of Education approved certified coach available.

i.e.:
Basketball      7 or more you play                  5 or 6 would be the schools’ decision
Volleyball       8 or more you play                 6 or 7 would be the schools’ decision
Ice Hockey    13 plus a goalie                        10 - 12 would be the schools’ decision

Post season:
Once the seedings/entry deadlines have been completed or the submission dates have passed, any student-athlete/coach/team that is then deemed ineligible due to COVID or other illness concerns, the tournament/competition will proceed without that student-athlete/coach/team.
No substitutions or teams will be placed into the tournament. The opponent/event will proceed without changes to the brackets/entries.
The student-athlete/coach/team may be deemed ineligible by the home school district, the local DOH, the NYSDOH or any other entity that has the authority to deem the student/coach/team should not participate due to COVID or other illness related concerns.
The flexibility that will be allowed will be limited to the open dates prior to the next regularly scheduled contest in that tournament bracket. No additional competitions will be pushed back. This can lead to back-to-back competitions for ANY participating teams/individuals.

Note:

Schools will still have the choice of participating in Sectionals. "If a school chooses not to participate in a team sectional, it will be the responsibility of the school's athletic director to notify the sport coordinator one week prior to the seeding meeting of your school's choice of opting out of the Sectionals.

Sport                             Coordinator                    e-mail                                                   Seeding date

Boys Basketball              Mike Clonan                  mclonan@esmschools.org                         February 16, 2022
Girls’ Basketball             Larry Stockwell              lstockwell@watervillecsd.org                    February 16, 2022
Girls Volleyball              Rich Jantzi                     jantzir@clarksportscenter.com                   February 1, 2022
Boys Volleyball              Mike Drizak                   MDziedzic@chittenangoschools.org           February 27, 2022
Ice Hockey                     John Cunningham            nhcoach24@gmail.com                            February 13, 2022