Following the many professional and collegiate sports leagues around the United States this week canceling or postponing games and events for the foreseeable future, it was inevitable that the Big Island Interscholastic Federation would follow suit.
On Friday afternoon, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association in conjunction with its member leagues – BIIF, as well as Interscholastic League of Honolulu, Kauai Interscholastic Federation, Maui Interscholastic League, and the Oahu Interscholastic Association —announced that all interscholastic competition will be suspended indefinitely based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat.
The move affects all scheduled BIIF baseball, boys volleyball, girls water polo, golf, judo, softball, tennis, and track and field events, starting Saturday.
Despite the initial announcement saying the suspension would be in effect Monday, March 16, Kealakehe High School athletic director Alan Vogt confirmed no BIIF competitions would be played Saturday.
“It’s real tough. The communication right now has not been real clear. It kind of came last minute,” Vogt said. “We’re not sure how long this will be, or if teams can practice or can’t practice. We know the events are canceled but that’s all we know. So we’re trying to get some clarification and we’re waiting for a more definitive outline of what we can or cannot do and how this long this will last.
“And who knows how long that will be. It might be a week. It might be two months”
Vogt said the executive director of each league are planning to meet Friday morning to see how they will proceed.
After the announcement, a baseball game between Konawaena and Honokaa was still played Friday afternoon, and a volleyball match between Honokaa and Keaau was still scheduled to take place.
“For water polo, I contacted the pool because I talked to someone who said the county was going to close their facilities,” Vogt said. “When I checked the Kauai County website, they’ve closed Kauai County facilities for two months, so I’m thinking that’s going to be the same thing that Hawaii County is going to follow, although they haven’t finalized that either.”
Vogt said the county closing the pool has him worried the Waveriders water polo team may not be able to resume at all this year, even if BIIF sports were to start up again in the near future, due to their home pool being the county-run Kona Aquatic Center, as opposed to other teams on the island who have their own pool.
“If they close the facility for two months, I think water polo is going to really be in jeopardy,” Vogt said. “I don’t know how we’re going to push through with water polo, that is if the county does close things for an extended time.”
According to a press release sent out by HHSAA, the resumption of play will not be made without the HHSAA first consulting with the Hawaii State Department of Health and the Lt. Governor Josh Green’s office.
The HHSAA said it will also continue to evaluate the situation and make a later determination regarding its spring state tournaments scheduled for May.
“The priority of the HHSAA continues to be the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and members of the community,” HHSAA executive director Chris Chun said in a press release. “We hope that play can resume before the school year ends, but must be mindful not to jeopardize the health of our community in doing so. This decision was not made lightly and is supported unanimously by our member leagues.”
