Mark these dates on your high school sports calendar: Sept. 10, 18 and 25.

The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association announced those as the first days for the different high school fall sports to play actual games and begin their seasons.

Last week the NHIAA marked Sept. 8 as the first day fall sports teams can practice.

The first day for bass fishing and golf (considered low risk sports) competiton is Sept. 10. The first day for girls and boys soccer, field hockey, volleyball (all (moderate risk) and cross country (low risk) is Sept. 18.

The first day for football to be able to play a game will be Friday, Sept. 25. That would allow for what would likely be a six-game football regular season. Spirit was given the same date and both are labled as “high risk” with regard to the pandemic.

The NHIAA Executive Council approved an open tournament concept for cross country, soccer (including unified), field hockey and volleyball.

“Discussions about the structure of the post season in the sports of football and golf will take place in the coming weeks,” the NHIAA said in a statement, adding that for the other open tournament sports, the stipulation for a minimum number of games to qualify for the post season will be removed.

Of course, it’s not known yet what schools will be participating in what sports. For example, local sources have said that Campbell High School is leaning toward just golf and cross country.

Either way, the announcement of both the first day to practice and the first day to now play is seen as progress during the pandemic.

“We’re trying to give the kids some type of season,” Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras said, “which under the circumstances is certainly better than what happened in the spring. A lot of these kids haven’t played in an actual high school game since March 11.”

A few days after that, winter tournaments were delayed, then cancelled, and the spring sports season was cancelled in late April.

What will the fall season look like? The Division I athletic directors met earlier this week and schools are going by a group of five or six schools to schedule, perhaps playing a few home and away, Gingras said. Schools would likely be close in locale for transportation purposes – and one other key reason.

“Not just transportation, as while we can’t have a bubble like some of the pro sports are doing, we can go with five or six schools,” she said. “That way, if there’s an outbreak, it can be contained within those schools rather than a 20-school schedule.”

Obviously, Gingras added, nothing is finalized as of yet. As for football, Gingras said the talks are centering around schools playing their conference games, and perhaps two out of conference.

The lead time for teams to get ready for their seasons is close to what it normally is, had they been able to start in August, which has been the norm. Football, which normally gets a full three weeks, loses a couple of days.

Expect schools like Nashua North and South to play Bishop Guertin, Alvirne, and likely Merrimack in most sports, and Gingras said that Keene may be included. She left open the possibility that some sports for Nashua may include games vs. non Division I teams, like Division II’s Hollis Brookline, Souhegan, or Milford.

“For example, if it’s a 10-game soccer season, we could possibly play five teams home and away,” Gingras said.

And with minimums removed, schedules can be less restrictive.

“Schools are, therefore, free to pursue a more regionalized scheduling model, should they choose,” the NHIAA statement said, “without missing out on the ability to compete for a state championship.”

Now it’s all up to the schools. Again, nothing is set as of yet except the first day to practice, and now the first day to play an actual high school game that counts for the first time in six months.

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