Dust off the cleats.
After a lengthy and frustrating suspension, city high school sports — including football — will finally resume next month, officials said Monday.
The Department of Education will allow all sports to resume strength and conditioning activities next month and begin competitive play in May.
To help make up for lost time, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that seasons will extend into the summer.
“We’re bringing back school sports,” Hizzoner said. “We’re going to bring back all sports with strict safety protocols.”
De Blasio said that athletic activities will be moved outdoors whenever possible.
“We’re going to extend our seasons into the summer,” he said. “We’re going to go all the way to August. We’re going to give kids who missed out on sports a chance to catch up and have a much better experience.”
Bill de Blasio said Monday that high school sports seasons will extend into the summer. Mayor's OfficeShawn O’Connor, head football coach at Lincoln HS in Coney Island, said he was relieved by the announcement after what seemed like an interminable wait.
“There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he told the Post. “But we’re excited. We just want to get the kids back close to each other and to the school. They need to start doing something positive again.”
O’Connor said that he was waiting for additional details on a slew of questions — including the length of the season and how kids who play different sports would be impacted by the reshuffled timing.
“It’s been hard,” he said. “There has been a lot of negativity for a long time around this. So I’m being positive today.”
O’Connor said that the prolonged absence of scholastic sports has had a direct and damaging impact on kids — especially those from low-income communities.
“We need some normalcy for them,” he said. “To be part of something again. To get some exercise. This keeps them out of trouble, away from bad things. We just need to get them back here.”
O’Connor said his players were texting him Monday after word of the resumption began to spread.
“They’re excited,” he said. “We all are.”
Masks and weekly testing will be required and no spectators will be permitted at events.
“We need to understand that this is for the kids. Even though I was for years and years a sports parent,” he said. “I loved going to the games. This is not that kind of situation because we can’t have big crowds”
City coaches, kids, and parents have long complained that there has been little guidance given as to the eventual return of public high school sports since the pandemic took hold.
The Department of Education has announced the return date of NYC high school sports. Getty Images




