Face coverings are mandated during competition, field hockey will be 7-on-7, and soccer will eliminate throw-ins and headers.

As if lopping football off the schedule wasn’t strange enough, the fall high school sports season in Massachusetts got even weirder on Friday when the MIAA unveiled its sports modifications designed to comply with state guidelines for life in the coronavirus pandemic.

Among the highlights:

No throw-ins or traditional corner kicks in soccer. No slide tackles or heading the ball either.

Field hockey is now 7-on-7 instead of 11-on-11.

Cross country meets are dual-meets only until further notice.

And all athletes other than gymnasts, even swimmers, have to wear face coverings except in certain situations.

According to an MIAA statement on Friday morning, “individual MIAA sport committee representatives established sport modifications in alignment with guidelines from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the MIAA.  These modifications were vetted through the MIAA Sports Medicine Committee (SMC), which includes two epidemiologists who worked with both the EEA and DESE, over a series of three virtual meetings.”

The measures were approved by the MIAA COVID-19 Task Force on Thursday.

MIAA president Jeff Granatino, the superintendent of Marshfield Public Schools, said in a statement: “It’s exciting that student-athletes and coaches from across the Commonwealth are finally able to prepare for an actual athletic season. The work that the MIAA COVID-19 Task Force and our individual sports committees put forth will allow for these sports to take place in a fashion that adheres to the safety precautions/modifications that have been recommended by the EEA.”

The MIAA Board of Directors last week approved a “four-season” plan for the 2020-21 school year that: shortened the three traditional seasons (fall, winter, spring); moved football, fall cheer and unified basketball to the new carved-out Fall II section (Feb. 22-April 25); and gave schools the flexibility to switch other sports to that window if they desired.

The changes announced Friday affect Fall I, the traditional fall season that begins with tryouts on Sept. 18 and concludes Nov. 20.

They will take some getting used to.

Take soccer, for example, which will switch from halves to quarters and will eliminate intentional heading of the ball, as well as any intentional physical contact, including slide/shoulder tackling. Players are to be red-carded if they come within six feet of an official to argue a call.

Throw-ins are now “kick-ins” — an indirect free kick with the ball placed on the touchline where it went out of bounds. And corner kicks must be kept on the ground; no more curling a ball into the box.

There will be no defensive walls allowed on set pieces, and goal kicks and goalkeeper punts/throws are not allowed to cross the midfield line in the air. There are also no rebounds on penalty kicks; the ball is dead if it deflects off the goalkeeper or a post or crossbar.

Also, “All players, coaches, referees, and other game personnel must wear a face covering during play except: A player can take off their face covering at a point during the game when they are more than 10 feet away from an opponent. This is to take a ‘mask break.’ The default expectation is that the face covering will be on.”

“I do think it’s going to be an adjustment,” Norwell High girls soccer coach Kara Connerty said. “I think it changes the game, but at the same time, it’s changing the game to allow us to play versus not being able to play. I’m not minimizing how difficult and challenging it will be for players, for officials, for coaches to coach the game that way. But they think this is about keeping the kids as safe as possible.

“It’s definitely going to change the look of the game not having corner kicks or throw-ins or heading the ball; those are all strategic parts of the game. … The players are going to have to get used to this new way of playing soccer.”

Social distancing is the main goal of all the modifications. Each of the eight approved Fall I sports — soccer, field hockey, girls volleyball, boys golf, cross country, fall gymnastics, fall swimming/diving, and dance — has its own document of between 4-7 pages on the MIAA web site, laying out all the changes.

There are some rules that apply to all sports:

— Athletes and coaches may not attend practices or games if they are isolated for illness or quarantined for exposure to infection.

— Locker rooms and changing areas may be used but should be limited to 50 percent capacity.

— Only essential personnel are permitted on the practice/competition field. These are defined as athletes, coaches, medical personnel/athletic trainers, and game officials.

Some sport-specific highlights:

Field hockey — switches from 11-on-11 to 7-on-7; no penalty corners (fouls in the circle are now 25-yard hits); all players must be 5 yards away on a free hit; officials will not conduct pre-game stick inspections.

Cross country — there should be staggered starts of 8-10 athletes at 3-minute intervals; consideration should be given to holding separate boys and girls races at different sites; leagues are encouraged to settle on one course to use for all dual meets, staged on different days; masks must be worn at the start of the race but can be removed during competition if runners are socially distant; there are no on-site course previews.

Volleyball — no switching sides/home team chooses its side of the court.