NEPSAC spring tournaments canceled; FAA postseason on deck?

The spring sports seasons for The Hopkins School, Hamden Hall Country Day are not officially canceled yet, but that decision could come soon for some of the state’s prep schools.

Last week, the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council’s spring postseason tournaments were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s disappointing the NEPSAC tournaments were canceled, but it’s completely understandable based on our circumstances and with many (prep) schools not returning until the fall,” Hamden Hall athletic director David Doyle said.

No official decision has been made yet regarding the remainder of the Fairchester Athletic Association regular season and the ensuing postseason. But a decision is expected some time next week, a source told Hearst Connecticut Media. Doyle and Hopkins athletic director Rocco DeMaio declined comment when asked about the potential cancellation of the entire FAA season.

Hopkins has already decided to move to virtual learning for the remainder of the spring semester.

“Once some of the boarding schools started (to do the same), I knew we would follow shortly thereafter. We are more like a boarding school. We draw from over 60 different towns in Connecticut,” DeMaio said.

DeMaio noted that Hopkins had six teams scheduled to fly to Florida in March to play games. All trips were canceled. “That was a huge wake-up call to the seriousness of what’s going on,” DeMaio said.

Cheshire Academy has already canceled its spring season. The ‘Cats are not a part of the FAA.

“It was a difficult decision, but as always we put the safety and health of our entire community at the forefront,” said David Dykeman, the associate head of school, in an email seeking comment.

The prep schools end their seasons in mid- to late-May and normally graduate around then as well.

“We are out until at least April 27th,” Doyle said. “If we were to get back to school that week, we would need a few practices before we even think about, say, going to play King (Stamford) in baseball.”

Doyle also noted that the NEPSAC has already canceled its boys basketball showcase, which was scheduled to be held at Hamden Hall in late June for the second straight year.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference is still scheduled to have its own basketball showcases for the first time for both boys (late June) and girls (late July) at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.