High school athletes during the past week slowly began the process of collectively preparing for their hopeful return to competition.
Actions approved by the school boards at Pittston Area Monday and Wyoming Area Tuesday allowed for the public posting of local guidelines required to meet the latest provisions set by Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
As long as athletes also followed all state and local public health policies and the PIAA’s rules for voluntary offseason workouts, they were free to return to school facilities and began gathering on a limited basis in preparation for 2020-21 high school sports.
There had not been any high school sports competitions or approved practices in Pennsylvania since March until schools around the state were cleared by the governor June 10 to resume activity once they prepared their individual school plans for the return.
Interscholastic competition for fall sports is tentatively scheduled to start in late August, depending on how well the coronavirus (COVID-19) is contained at that time.
Among the items included for the current phase in the Athletics Health and Safety Plan of the Pittston Area School District:
• Verification of daily self-health checks is a requirement for participation.
• Symptomatic students will be quarantined for a minimum of 10 days.
• Handwashing and hand sanitation stations are available and athletes are to use them before the start of any activity.
• Athletes will take home all individual sporting equipment, with the exception of helmets and shoulder pads for football players, which may be stored in the locker room.
• There will be no gatherings of more than 25 people, including athletes, coaches and spectators, per field or court.
• Social distancing should apply during practice, in locker rooms and in gathering areas. When athletes are not directly participating, they should be practicing social distancing.
• There is to be no sharing of personalized items, such as clothes, towels or drinks.
• Signs, in compliance with Center for Disease Control Guidelines, will be posted in high-frequency areas.
• Only essential personnel will be allowed at practices.
• Contact activities within groups will be minimized.
• Coaches will be encouraged to wear a mask during practice and minimize interaction with athletes.
• Athletes will be encouraged to wear a mask when participating in non-strenuous activities.
Football players were the first to meet at Wyoming Area, gathering at Anthony “Jake” Sobeski Stadium Wednesday morning.
Field hockey players followed, reporting to their field Thursday afternoon.
In all cases, athletes and a parent or guardian are required to sign a Resocialization Participation Waiver, which can be found on the school website, before beginning participation.
Cross country runners have their first voluntary workout Monday at 5 at their home course in Forty Fort.
Girls volleyball has its first workout at the high school gym Tuesday at 4:30.
The girls soccer team will conduct a parent meeting Tuesday. Details were not available at presstime.
Varsity cheerleading starts July 19 and golf with the first official practice Aug. 17. Girls tennis and boys soccer are to be determined.
No junior high sports will begin before Wednesday.
Among the Wyoming Area School District Resocialization of Sports Recommendations:
• Athletes, coaches and staff will be screened for signs and symptoms before each practice, event or team meeting. Depending on available resources and conditions at the time, this could be as simple as a verbal/written questionnaire.
• Healthy hygiene will be promoted.
• Face coverings are recommended except when athletes are practicing or competing.
• Social distancing is encouraged through spacing small groups and limited mixing between groups and should be used in locker rooms and gathering places.
• Water bottles must not be shared.
• No gatherings of more than 250 (25 if the county returns to Yellow conditions).
• Practices are controlled and non-contact, operating under modified game rules.
At both schools, plans for increased cleaning of equipment and facilities are in place.
Depending upon local public health practices in place at the time, travel on buses and vans may be modified to limit occupancy, provide social distancing and emphasize sanitizing.
