Sports fans will be pleased to know that Wasatch High School is planning to have cross-country, golf, soccer, tennis, volleyball, and even football this Fall. Some accommodations will be made to allow the sports to go forward.
Ryan Bishop, Assistant Principal, said that a baseball program was held this summer with 30-35 participants. Protocols included extra sanitizing and cleaning, among other things, and there were no issues with Covid. The football team has also been holding drills and practices with very limited issues. Recently, the Utah High School Activities Association released a “Best Practices” document detailing adaptations to allow fall sports to go forward.
“If everyone will participate and help with masks and social distancing, that will help keep this going so we don’t see what happened last [time] when everything was shut down,” said School Board President Blaik Baird. “Let’s follow the guidelines in August, so we can continue to play,” said Bishop.
All sports will have new signs to inform the public about game protocol. For players and coaches on the sidelines, masks will be highly recommended. Fans will be encouraged to wear masks when unable to social distance. There will be no hand shaking before or after games. Also, players must not be sick when engaging in practices or games. Additionally, each sport will have specific guidelines to increase safety.
Cross Country will create spaces to avoid congregating at the finish line, use fully automatic times when possible, spread out courses, and use mountain or park courses. Golf will limit matches, courses, and people. Soccer and volleyball will encourage observers to socially distance and wear masks, and Tennis will limit region matches. Many other accommodations will also be made.
Because of the probable large crowds, football will use a digital ticketing system. This will allow for contact tracing, if necessary. Face coverings will also be encouraged. “If we want to stay open, the key is wearing our masks. . . . [Otherwise], we would have the rest of football games with no spectators,” suggested Superintendent Paul Sweat.
According to Bishop, “We want our kids to be able to participate. We’ll follow any guideline we can. We’ll sanitize, we’ll come early, we’ll stay late, we’ll do whatever we can to keep them healthy, so that our kids can participate at the high school level. . . . That’s our goal.”
To see the full document from the Utah High School Activities Association, click here:
https://uhsaa.org/news/uploads/UHSAA%20Return%20to%20Play%20Document.pdf
