The Corydon Central Panthers did some smashing while running drills last week. The fall sports season is set to begin unless the COVID-19 virus dictates otherwise. Photo by Wade Bell
Wade Bell, Contributing Writer
With the resurgence of COVID-19 the last few weeks, questions have once again abounded about the start of school and also the fall sports season.
Late winter and spring sports in Indiana were canceled and then the 2019-20 school year finished through virtual learning. During the summer, it appeared the virus was easing up and restrictions were relaxed.
However, the virus grabbed another gear and has taken off again.
Restrictions have been kept in place for teams and individuals going through their fall workouts. That means wearing face masks, taking temperatures, filling out questionaires, athletes bringing their own water and hand sanitizer for everybody involved.
However, there’s still no guarantee any sports will take place this year.
“It’s an unknown right now,” said Crawford County High School athletic director Jerry Hanger. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We could have a spike in it where we’re pretty loose right now. … If we have a spike in it, we might have to be restrictive and not have any fans at all.
“Right now, I’m saying be prepared to do like they would if they were going to Walmart, have their mask handy and if they can be wearing it, and social distance while they’re there,” he said.
At South Central Junior-Senior High School, athletic director Tony Hall said the school has developed a list of protocols to be followed should a case of COVID-19 be confirmed at the school, including a trace of where the student had been and who might have been exposed.
The wearing of masks has also been debated. Last week, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced masks would be mandatory in public places beginning July 27. Many have argued it should be up to the individual whether they want to wear one, and others say masks give no protection at all to the virus.
“Kind of like the seat-belt law years ago,” said North Harrison High School boys’ cross-country coach Jeff Balmer. “People cried out how it was government control when it was because a lot of people just didn’t recognize that it really did help, but not stop, deaths in accidents. I think most everyone is good to put on a seat belt now.”
Crawford County High School principal Brandon Johnson said any student or student-athlete who is showing COVID-19 symptoms, or refuses to get tested, will not be allowed to participate and will be sent home.
“If they’re symptonmatic or refuse a test, or if they’re symtomatic and test positive, or asymptomatic and test positive, it’s all on them to take full accountability,” he said.
In regard to fan participation, it is a subject that hasn’t been given a whole lot of attention. However, the current mask mandate will mean those attending high school sporting events will be required to wear masks.
“At this point, I think we are trying to get through the re-start in July before making decisions on August,” said Corydon Central High School athletic director John Atkins. “I know at this moment I plan to offer people the ability to bring chairs and sit along certain parts of the track if they wish to avoid a crowded situation in the bleachers at football games. For soccer, most people do that anyways, and with volleyball there is plenty of room for people to space out if they want.”
“We will be following guidelines provided to us by the Harrison County Health Dept., department of education and the (Indiana High School Athletic Association),” said Lanesville athletic director Dr. Ryan Apple. “As of now, all official contests will fall under the phase III umbrella, so, at this time, they will be open to spectators.
“Maybe the biggest impact to Lanesville student-athletes will be the wearing of masks on buses,” he said. “We are going to have all student-athletes follow the same transportation guidelines as we are planning on doing for all students on bus rides. With the fluidity of this situation, there’s no guarantee that things won’t change (before this story publishes). We, at Lanesville, are hoping to provide as great of a sense of normalcy as we can for our student-athletes while still complying with health directives.”
Another impact would be schools that travel out of state for competition. Even traveling county to county could be conflicted if the home county is struggling with a surge of the virus. Then, there are the events where much larger crowds are expected, such as invitational tournaments and rivalry games.
“We have 44 schools coming to our cross-country invitational,” Hanger said. “There’s going to be a lot of people there in close proximity. Cross-country is outside and in wide open spaces, but that’s going to be an issue for us. In the junior high race, we have about 500 kids running. So, we’ve got a lot of things coming up here that’s going to be coming up pretty soon.”
North Harrison High School athletic director Hal Pearson said he will be encouraging more social distancing for fans attending sporting events.
“Much like any business, there will be signage asking fans that have exhibited symptoms recently to take that into account before entering,” Pearson said “Probably also remind fans of sticking in groups of family or others they know and remember social-distancing policy. I think with extra seating at volleyball that should help with spreading out.
“We’ve always had bleacher space at soccer that seems more than ample,” he said, “and we’ll ask our fans to continue to bring chairs or, if using bleachers, remember to space out as well.”
Pearson added, “We will implement bus seating charts if we are allowed to play, requiring athletes to bring their own water source and towels. Plus, we’ll have sanitizer at gates to games and will definitely stress the importance of season tickets this year to offset standing in line with others.”
Hanger said all fans should have masks with them at Wolfpack sports events and be prepared to wear them.
“We’re encouraging all of our fans to follow the CDC guidelines,” said the Crawford County AD, “which will be have the face masks and possibly have some hand sanitizer with them in small bottles. Just follow the guidelines, which they’re going to do anyway. We don’t want them to get lax on coming to the games. So, if they can wear masks, or bring it with them to the games, that would help them out.”
“When it comes to fall sports, are we going to have a football season? I don’t know,” Hanger said. “Are we going to have tennis? I really don’t know. Tomorrow we might get different guidelines.”
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July 29, 2020 at 07:55PM
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Fall high school sports set to start – Corydon Democrat - Corydon Democrat
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