BY JESSICA PARKS
Brooklyn’s public school
children will soon hit the fi elds
for youth sports, after city
health offi cials green-lit a return
to all outdoor activities, as
well as lower-risk indoor sports
— but Catholic school leaders
are calling for the resumption
of all competition, including
higher-risk indoor sports, citing
their lack of outside space.
“We would fi nd it diffi -
cult to move outdoors,” said
Dominick Vulpis, executive
director of the Catholic High
School Athletic Association,
“because we don’t have the resources
that Public Schools
Athletic League has.”
All school sports can begin
strength and conditioning
in April, and competitive play
can resume in May — although
12 COURIER LIFE, APRIL 2-8, 2021
“higher risk” sports can only be
played outside, while lower-risk
activities can head indoors, according
to a Department of Education
spokesperson.
“We are truly excited to
bring back PSAL in April and
for the fi rst time, extend the
season through the end of this
summer with a strong focus
on health and safety,” said Nathaniel
Styer. “This is an important
step towards bringing
back a sense of normalcy to
our young people.”
But Vulpis said they’ve
been left guessing about indoor,
higher-risk sports.
“They specifi cally only
talk about high-risk sports
outdoors,” said Vulpis, “but
aren’t addressing the other
high-risk sports indoors.”
The school’s sports director
A scene from a past PSAL MPL Baseball Championship between International Community High School and
Claremont International High School. File photo by PSAL
told Brooklyn Paper that the
organization plans to go ahead
with their outdoor high-risk
sports like lacrosse and football,
but they’re asking health
honchos to offer guidelines
for indoor, high-risk sports as
soon as possible.
The Catholic athletic association
announced March 25 that
its football program will commence
on the weekend of April
17. Practices for outdoor, highrisk
sports at city Catholic
schools will resume on April 5.
“We are going to go along
with that guidance and start
our outdoor, high-risk sports
at that time,” Vulpis said.
On top of the lack of outdoor
space that many Catholic
schools face, those schools’ facilities
have been open since September,
and their student-athletes
have been participating in
low- and moderate-risk sports,
unlike public schools. Therefore,
Vulpis argued, they are
more prepared to resume indoor
sports — as many jurisdictions
in the state have, since Gov. Andrew
Cuomo relinquished that
decision-making to local health
departments on Feb. 1.
“We are hoping that the
guidelines will refl ect the state
guidelines, which is all highrisk
sports are being played
at this time,” Vulpis said. “Regardless
of indoor or outdoor.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
high school sports
would reconvene during a
March 8 press conference, and
shared they would be extending
the sports season until
August — meant to catch up
sports that were passed over
during the pandemic.
Resuming sports is strictly
for the betterment of the student
participants, the mayor
said, and audiences will not
yet be permitted at games.
Play ball?
Youth sports to resume
at public schools, Catholic
sports leagues demand more
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