Hello AYBA Community,

We hope that everyone is doing well.  We last messaged out to the AYBA Community mid-August, so we wanted to share another update as we roll into October (hard to believe!).

The MA state guidelines regarding youth sports have not changed since our last update.  Basketball activities remain significantly curtailed.  With that said, all AYBA activities are still on hold at this time.

However, the AYBA Board is assuming that these guidelines will be loosened to allow more activities, including games, and are doing our best to plan accordingly.  We intend to follow the direction and guidelines set forth by the MA Department of Health.  We are GUESSING that this will include allowing full contact practices and games in an indoor setting and requiring masks to be worn by everyone at all times (including by the players while on the court playing).  Additional modifications will likely be mandated as well.

We continue to monitor the situation and look for direction and guidance from the state on how we can proceed.

To assist in our planning efforts, we may be reaching out to some subsets of the AYBA Community with a survey to gather feedback.  At this point, we are looking to gather information on interest, questions, and concerns that families have about potential AYBA activities for the upcoming 2020-2021 season.  If you receive an email asking to complete a survey, your timely response would be much appreciated.

To be fully transparent, regardless of if/when the guidelines are loosened, the AYBA season will look much different than in years past.  The main driver of this is gym availability.  We usually have about 250 hours of gym/court time to use for practices and games during the week.  This year, we anticipate having about 14 hours.  Obviously, this presents a massive impediment to rolling out our usual Rec and Metrowest activities for boys and girls in all grades (K-12).  Please know that the AYBA Board is diligently pursuing multiple ideas and avenues to address this challenge.  We are doing our best under these difficult circumstances, and we truly value your support, patience, and understanding as we all navigate this together.

We will continue to monitor the situation and will share updates as we know more.  

Thank you and continue to stay safe!

AYBA