High schools across Kansas expect school to open this fall, and with that may come Friday night football. Yet sports during a pandemic could look different.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association has issued new guidelines on how teams can get in shape this summer starting June 1 — insisting on social distancing rules and gathering restrictions that would apply even in high-contact sports.
That’s when things could get interesting: How do football and soccer work in the time of COVID-19?
“We wouldn’t be able to play a football game if there is still an expectation of social distancing,” said the association’s executive director, Bill Faflick.
Official team practices can’t start until Aug. 17. He said the association has looked at things like taking temperatures, but, ultimately, it’s about what schools will do come the fall.
If there is in-person instruction, he said, “then we’re going to feel a whole lot more comfortable having after-school activities, because it’s like a classroom.
“If school doesn’t resume in that face-to-face manner, then I’m not so sure what our activities will look like — whether it will be we don’t do anything or these are the activities where we can still maintain (social distancing).”
The new guidelines, which were adopted May 1 in a 48-22 video-call vote by the association’s board of directors, comes as Kansas has started reopening businesses and establishments in phases.
Under the guidelines, schools can restart summer athletic programs like strength training and conditioning work on June 1. And programs need approval from county health departments.
“Everybody’s going to be different,” said Michelle Olson, the principal at Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas. “We know it.”
Plus, there’s “an absolute expectation” for schools to socially distance as sports activities ramp up, Faflick said. “You cannot conduct an activity where you cannot maintain social distancing.”
Spring sports — as well as the final rounds of the state basketball tournament, which Faflick said was a “six-figure loss” of gate receipts alone — were canceled this year when Gov. Laura Kelly moved all school instruction online in mid-March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. And some cheerleading and dance camps have been canceled this summer because social distancing is not possible.
About 40 high schoolers play sports in the St. Francis Community School District in far northwest Kansas. Principal Dave Morrow voted for the recommendations. As a KSHSAA board member, he represents all seven schools in the Northwest Kansas League.
“KSHSAA is doing whatever (it) can to give schools and the athletes that participate in them as much liberty as they can under the governor’s guidelines,” he said. “They’re kind of using those as the starting point for everything that we try to schedule, and allow coaches in all of our schools to schedule things.”
Faflick said that summer participation is voluntary for students and for school districts, and programs can only be held if local health officials feel it’s safe.
That might not be a problem for the St. Francis district. Cheyenne County has just two cases of COVID-19. But Morrow said there was some discussion that smaller schools in bigger metro areas will be at a disadvantage when competition starts up.
