Kickoff for fall sports is closing in and for middle school stakeholders this year’s game times can be stretched a little farther than last year.

 

The Effingham County Board of Education tweaked its athletics policy at their Aug. 4 meeting to allow flexibility in scheduling for middle school sports. The Georgia High School Association, the organization that governs interscholastic sports for most of the state, decided to allow local boards to determine game scheduling policies.

 

“When I met with principals in the spring, we talked about what games we could do, and you can’t do them all because sometimes you don’t have lights on the field and that kind of thing,” Shearouse said. 

 

But for instances when the county’s middle schools play each other, those games could be scheduled for later start times.

 

“That would allow parents to attend more games, hopefully,” Shearouse said.

 

The change allows games to begin later; before, they were required to end by 7 p.m. 

 

The intent of the time policy was to give younger, middle grade student-athletes plenty of time after games to do their homework and get a good night’s rest.