Syracuse, N.Y. — The Section III executive committee on Friday gave a green light for high school sports at a lower risk of spreading the coronavirus to start practice on Sept. 21 and then begin play after that.

Those sports are: tennis, cross county, golf, swimming, gymnastics, field hockey and soccer.

The committee made its decision after reviewing surveys sent to Section III school districts to gauge their thoughts on the issue.

“Let’s go. Yeah, I was worried,” said Marcellus girls soccer coach Laurie Updike. “But I’m so excited to be now knowing that we’re definitely starting on the 21st, I’m totally pumped right now.”

There will be no sectional tournaments in any fall sports. That follows the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s recent decision to eliminate regional and state play for the fall season.

“We sat there and we deliberated for all the information that was given to us,” said John Rathbun, executive director of Section III. “It was not an easy choice one way or the other.”

But just because the section is allowing fall sports doesn’t mean that everyone will decide to play.

Rathbun said of the 97 districts that responded to the survey, 58 percent indicated they are ready to begin fall sports and 42 percent requested a delay of fall sports until after Jan. 1. He would not reveal individual results. A handful of Section III schools have decided not to compete in the fall, such as Watertown, Waterville, Indian River, Remsen and Cooperstown. More may announce their intentions to sit out within the next few days.

Rathbun said schools who don’t partake in fall sports will have the option of scheduling them for the spring. He said he understands the wide-ranging opinions among the schools who favor starting up play and those that want to wait.

“We are such a diverse section. We are the largest section land-mass wise,” he said. “Everybody has different community concerns they have to deal with.”

Wednesday, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association decided to push higher risk sports such as volleyball, football and cheerleading in all sections to March. Other sections across the state have delayed all competition. Sections VIII and XI have postponed all sports until at least January and Section IX has switched fall sports to March.

Now, Section III leagues must hustle to assemble schedules for their competing teams. In accordance with NYSPHSAA rules, teams this fall must play games within their section or league until Oct. 19. Games may be played beyond a school’s section or league after that date.

Lindsay Kramer is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Got a comment or idea for a story? He can be reached via email at LKramer@Syracuse.com.