The Maryland State Board of Education has approved the MPSSAA proposal to modify the start date for the fall sports season as the new bylaw, effective this year. The new regulation standardizes the official start date for fall athletic practice so competition may begin each year on the first weekend in September and end by the first weekend in December. The new bylaw will read:
Fall means the sixth Saturday following the first full week of July until the
final date of the county, conference, district, regional, or state tournament.
This standardized calendar defines the first week of the athletic year as beginning with the first Sunday in July. A week begins with a Sunday, and ends with Saturday. Thus, the Saturday of the 6th week will be at the end of the 6th week, counting from the first Sunday in July. This date will generally correspond with the Saturday that is closest to August 15, which traditionally has been the first fall practice date for Maryland public schools.
Benefits of adopting the standardized calendar include: establishes a standard start to all fall regular seasons as the first weekend in September, first day of fall practice is always on a Saturday, significantly reduces conflicts with winter sport tryouts for many more schools, ends football season a week earlier most years, enhances scheduling opportunities with neighboring states and shortens, by a few days, the sports season for all fall sports teams.
UPCOMING FALL SPORT START DATES
Year Practice Date Season Date
2008 August 16, 2008 September 5, 2008
2009 August 15, 2009 September 4, 2009
2010 August 14, 2010 September 3, 2010
2011 August 13, 2011 September 2, 2011
2012 August 11, 2012 August 31, 2012