Published July 2, 2020

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

NORTH READING — High school sports are nostalgic by nature.

So, the prospect of altering or even canceling a fall season is alarming for many across the country even in the midst of a pandemic.

According to an Associated Press article by Jim Vertuno published on June 22, some high schools are welcoming back football players to participate in annual summer workouts. It has become a tradition, especially in states considered to be football hotbeds such as Texas and Florida.

According to Vertuno, football powerhouse Arlington-Martin High School near Dallas had about 600 athletes attend their first day of summer conditioning on June 8. They were reportedly following state social distancing guidelines and spread out over four fields. Eight days later, the workouts were suspended indefinitely after one of those 600 tested positive for COVID-19.

It’s an issue many high school programs are currently willing to risk.

Iowa became the first state to resume competitive high school sports when they brought back summer baseball and softball on June 15.

According to Davenport’s Quad-City Times, at least a half-dozen Iowa high school baseball and softball teams experienced disruptions due to players or coaches contracting the virus just one week into the season.

When a team has a new case, protocol is for the entire team to stop play and self-isolate for 14 days. Many teams then return to action. The Iowa High School Athletics Association claims that none of the cases involving baseball teams have been traced back to games or practices. They do believe that fans are not properly following the state’s guidelines for social distancing.

These are just the first examples of what will become a national athletic experiment.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association no doubt has some difficult decisions to make regarding fall sports.

Summer practices aren’t currently an issue due to the state’s guidelines limiting the amount of people for gatherings, but soon, decisions will need to be made, not only for best practices amongst student athletes but also for fans.

The MIAA website has posted guidelines for specific sports published by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Football rule considerations include: extending the team box on the sidelines so players can stand apart, cleaning and sanitizing the ball throughout the game, more breaks including after scores, longer time outs and personal water bottles.

All sports encourage social distancing, the use of hand sanitizer, conducting workouts in pods of same students training and rotating together in practice to ensure more limited exposure and electronic whistles for referees while eliminating handshakes and discouraging sharing equipment. The following is a list of some national rule considerations for some other fall sports:

Cross Country: Staggered or interval starts, image-based equipment at finish to assist with picking place to avoid congestion.

Soccer: Suspend pregame introduction line, long sleeved shirts/jackets, pants, gloves and fave coverings are permissible.

Volleyball: Suspend protocol of teams switching benches between sets, cloth face covering, gloves, long sleeves and pants are permissible.

The MIAA will likely adopt their own guidelines for all sports in addition to rules for fans but as evidenced by these early attempts to restart, problems will continue to arise with no perfect solution.

Mystic Valley Regional Charter School made state headlines recently when they announced the suspension of football for the 2020 season.

Bowdoin College, UMass Boston and Williams College have already announced the cancellation of their fall sports.

The number of cases in Massachusetts has shown patterns of decline.  There was an average of 322 cases reported per day from June 8 to June 15. That average went down to 217 from June 16 to June 23.

Of course, the concern is how the return of sporting events could alter this decline. Team sports and leagues including local summer baseball squads the North Reading Northeast League team and the A’s of the North Shore Baseball League are currently on pace to return during Phase 3. The MIAA will be able to get more evidence from monitoring summer leagues but it would hardly be considered concrete, especially recognizing how the fan base at a Little League game for example would be much different than a high school football contest.

It’s a big part of the culture in many states and the importance of athletics to high school students is unexplainable but the early signs don’t point to a bright future, especially for football in the fall. Some have suggested pushing naturally close-contact sports like football, field hockey and soccer to the spring and swapped with sports like baseball and softball.

No matter what is decided, we already know the season won’t be typical, it’s just that now there is rightful concern many fall sports are in jeopardy even with adopted guidelines and best practices.