Scott Swanson
While sports are resuming at Sweet Home High School after a full year of downtime due to the coronavirus pandemic, there are new rules and regulations that govern athletes, coaches officials and spectators.
Also, approaches to sports is varied between leagues and the various size divisions in OSAA.
“It’s very interesting, talking with other athletic directors,” said Nate Tyler, who holds that position at Sweet Home High School. “4A schools are going as far as they are able. 5A and 6A seem to be a little more cautious.
“We’ve just been super busy, trying to figure out this stuff.”
Oregon West Conference member Newport is currently not ready to play in any sport, he said, after school district officials initially balked at moving ahead with competitive athletics.
The Lincoln County School District, whose county is currently rated “Low Risk,” issued a statement Feb. 23 that it would move forward with all sports, starting with volleyball on March 3. Its first football game was pushed to March 12 to meet pad progression requirements.
Newport High School said it would prohibit all spectators except for senior nights, though it was evaluating that policy.
“Things are changing all the time,” Tyler said.
Here’s how things stand as the season starts for most sports this week.
Spectators
“We’re going to allow as many spectators as we can in each facility,” Tyler said.
Specifically, each athlete in each sport will be given a certain number of tickets, based on the number of team members and the capacity of the venue in question, he said.
“Spectators will be allowed in with tickets. We just want to make sure we follow capacity limits.”
The catch is, the crowds likely will not be large. The drop to “Moderate” risk status last Friday increases numbers allowed in Husky Stadium and the Main Gym, but those totals will include athletes, coaches and officials and others who need to be there.
“They’re not going to be open to the community,” Tyler said, noting that senior athletes will get first dibs at tickets to hand out to friends and family.
“We’re in Moderate, so that means 150 people at the football stadium. That’s not really as many as it sounds like.”
He said school officials are discussing how they could erect bleachers as a separate venue to allow more spectators.
For more information, contact the high school Athletic Department at (541) 367-7629.
Mask-Wearing Required
“All athletes, regardless of sport, have to wear masks,” Tyler said.
So does everyone else – officials, coaches, spectators and managers.
Tyler acknowledged that mask-wearing will be onerous for cross-country runners in particular, who run 3.1 miles at the varsity level and nearly 2 in early-season junior varsity races.
“This is trial and error,” he said, pointing out that football players have to wear mouthpieces under their masks.
“When all of this first started, I tried it,” Tyler said, noting that he suffers from asthma himself. “Once you get tired, you really feel like you’re being restricted.”
“Officially, we’re asking them to wear masks.”
Post Season
The OSAA Executive Board announced after its most recent meeting, on Feb. 17, that it would let the schools themselves decide on “culminating events at their discretion.”
It said it was basing that decision on the fact that some schools would have “fragmented” seasons due to late starts or COVID outbreaks, and may be forced to shift entire seasons.
Also, it said, travel restrictions set by school districts could impact post-season play, hence the decision “to let schools determine how they’ll schedule that sixth week of Season 2.”
“The OSAA Executive Board does not want to put any undue pressure on schools to participate in a statewide event that could potentially place their students and school community at risk. “
Tyler said that athletic directors at 4A schools around the state have decided to move forward with state championship competitions that will include league champions from each league in all sports except football, which would likely involve big transportation challenges.
“We had schools lined up to host and everything, but just a number of people were shy about sending teams.”
Sanitization
OSAA requires schools to wipe down equipment and balls before and after each use, but Tyler said the school won’t be interrupting play to sanitize balls.
“That was a conference decision,” he said.