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With high school student-athletes having the opportunity to play starting a few months ago, middle school student-athletes will have their chance to play starting soon.

In an email from Stanly County Schools Athletic Director Beverly Pennington, the county’s middle schools will be allowed to open basketball seasons Jan. 25 as part of the Rocky River Middle School Athletic Conference (RRMSAC). The RRMSAC includes schools from Stanly and Montgomery counties.

(Note: According to a follow-up email from Pennington received after the initial publication of this story, the Montgomery schools will not be participating in the upcoming season.)

“Our (school) board is very supportive of the decision to provide middle school students with athletic opportunities. The RRMSAC will follow all COVID protocols and processes endorsed by the NCHSAA,” Pennington said via email.

Jeff Chance, chairman of the Stanly County Board of Education, said SCS “can’t have one level of athletics (playing) and another level determined to not have (it). So, the Board at this point is standing behind the decision of the Central Office to allow middle school sports to move forward.”

As it is for high school student-athletes, middle school athletics “provides an outlet for (student-athletes) during this crazy time of the pandemic.”

Like for high schools, Chance said SCS will take sports one day at a time depending upon any future decisions from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.