Page 14 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2021 GREATER BOSTON LEAGUE NOTEBOOK: Excitement and enthusiasm fuel 2021-22 High School Sports Year Fall Preseason kicks off TODAY for GBL & all MIAA football teams; soccer, other sports begin Monday sports since mid-March 2020... and it is not over. Preseason fall sports start toBy Steve Freker A s the 2021-22 school year unfolds, the high school sports kickoff this fall will easily be the most anticipated and closely watched sports season of the entire millennium. The once-in-100-years COVID-19 pandemic has stopped, started, changed, reconstructed and simply dominated high school day, with the beginning of football conditioning workouts, followed by soccer, other fall sports and cheerleading on Monday; it is full steam ahead. The season opener for football is just three short weeks away for many high school football teams, with other sports opening regular season play a few days earlier in September. For the eight teams that make up the Greater Boston League (GBL) – Chelsea, Everett, Lynn English, Lynn Classical, Malden, Medford, Revere and Somerville – this will be the fi rst full season and fi rst full year together in the newly reformed league. It was earlier this year that the MIAA formally approved the entry of the newest league members, Lynn English and Lynn Classical, into GBL from their former league, the Northeastern Conference (NEC), with no waiting period. Chelsea and Revere had been accepted in the months leading up to that further expansion. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the hand of the GBL last fall and winter seasons during the 2020-21 school year, and the league powers-that-be decided to push back the various seasons’ start dates to February for the Winter Sports, like basketball and hockey, March for The 2021-22 High School sports season starts today with preseason football practices for Everett High School (above), Malden High, Revere High and the rest of the Greater Boston League schools as well as those across Massachusetts. (Courtesy Photo) Preseason practices begin for boys and girls soccer and the other fall season sports on Monday. Above, former Revere High standout Michael Maldonado dribbles in a game for the Patriots. (Advocate File Photo) “Fall 2,” like football and soccer, and then late April for Spring Sports, such as baseball, softball and lacrosse. GBL Commissioner Charlie Conefrey, who is the Athletic Director for the Malden Public Schools, said that despite all the challenges, temporary roadblocks and frequent “speed bumps,” which have had a dramatic eff ect on high school sports – and the GBL – during the pandemic, it did not dim FOOTBALL | SEE Page 18
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