With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in the area surrounding the Pioneer Athletic Conference, the conference board of directors agreed to terms regarding the upcoming winter sports season. Rather than beginning in early December, the league has agreed to start the season in early January.

The tryouts and practice portion of the season was originally projected to begin in late November, but they will seemingly begin post-November due to local government rulings. The Montgomery County Department of Health mandated Nov. 13 that no in-person learning or extra-curricular activities could be held from Nov. 23 through Dec. 6.

Recently completing the fall season successfully, the PAC appears to feel pretty good about their chances of staging a winter season. Winter sports present new challenges, though, with events taking part in all-indoor environments as well as the fact that COVID-19 cases are obviously at a different level than experienced in the fall.

Another potential obstacle is the rumblings surrounding the Governor’s office about schools participating while they are fully virtual. This is purely speculative, but it seems imperative the PIAA and the Governor’s office get onto the same page regarding the fall sports’ seasons.

Of course, the PIAA must be thrilled that they were able to conduct the fall season with limited outbreaks. This allows them a lot more schedule flexibility for the remainder of the sports seasons.

With cases rising, the PAC seems to be focused on being proactive and not reactive. To point, these delays allow for cases throughout the area to hopefully drop and allow for seasons to be as normal as possible.

The PAC should be releasing schedules, barring any snags, within the next couple of weeks for their respective winter seasons.