The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced Tuesday evening it has delayed the start of the fall sports season until Sept. 5th for football and Sept. 7th for all other fall sports.

The first practices for football were originally scheduled to take place on Aug. 19 with most school’s games set to begin Sept. 4. The first practices for all other fall sports (boys tennis, cross country, volleyball, girls soccer and girls swimming) were scheduled to begin Aug. 24 with games set to begin around Sept. 8.

The delay will causes changes in the fall sports schedule. The WIAA said its executive board will make another statement concerning fall sports on July 22 and will work on an altered fall sports schedule with the adjusted start dates. Games for fall sports now won’t be able to begin until Sept. 18th at the earliest.

Per the WIAA guidelines, football players need to participate in 12 practices before being eligible to play in games. All other fall sports require 10 practices before being eligible for competition.