The Alabama High School Athletic Association has released its “best practices” for resuming fall sports in the coming weeks, a list of requirements and recommendations that leaves key decisions about participation, transportation and spectators up to local school districts.
At a Thursday press conference, AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said the central board of control’s priority was to develop practices that “mitigate but not eliminate” the risk of COVID-19 exposure for coaches and student-athletes. Even if seasons are shortened by rising case counts, the AHSAA wanted to give local schools flexibility rather than a one-size-fits-all mandate.
“Parents now have options not only about how they educate their children, but they must make a personal choice about whether they should allow their children to participate in extracurricular activities,” Savarese said, adding that the board let schools play or not play without penalty and use local health information to guide decisions.
With the AHSAA’s green light, schools may begin fall practice as early as July 27, though the first week is limited to acclimation and no full-contact drills in sports such as football. The competitive season starts as scheduled Aug. 20. Programs that forgo games because of outbreaks would not be penalized, though forfeits would count as losses to be reviewed at season’s end.
The Mobile County Public School System is delaying its fall semester until September and offering only online instruction into November. MCPSS has not said whether its high schools will play fall sports and has already postponed middle school sports indefinitely. Across the bay, Baldwin County Schools Superintendent Eddie Tyler, a former football coach, said his district fully intends to participate, joking he hoped college football would follow so he “has something to do on Saturdays.”