There was some normalcy restored to high school athletes around the state Monday after they were allowed to resume activities for the first time since the Arkansas Activities Association implemented a dead period on March 17 because of coronavirus pandemic concerns.
But there's nothing typical about the resumption process.
Coaches are allowed to engage with their players for sessions, although on a restricted basis. While limited-contact sports such as baseball and softball are afforded more leeway and can hold actual team competitions, close-contact sports such as football and basketball are bound to activities mostly related to conditioning and training.
Regardless, the guidelines that were issued last week by Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the Arkansas Department of Health have to be followed in what's being called Phase I of the return of team sports.
Lance Taylor, the AAA's executive director, expanded on those rulings Tuesday while elaborating on items his organization put together to assist member schools during the acclimation process.
"It's extremely important, especially going forward," he said. "The governor put out those directives and guidelines with the department of health, and we followed those to a T when we released some things to help the schools. They are required to follow those guidelines."
The AAA recently delivered a set of reopening requirements as well as a coronavirus screening form that schools can use to monitor athletes and coaches.
Taylor said the forms are vital.
"We made those forms in order for [schools] to check in the kids every day and for the coaches to record it," he said. "That's probably the hardest thing for the department of health to handle. If somebody tests positive, they have to send a team out to try and track everybody that person has been around, if they can remember who they've been around.
"If a kid tests positive for [coronavirus] and with all the names of who's been there every single day, it will help [the department of health] know who to test, who to watch, who to quarantine and all of that. So that form is an extra benefit precaution."
One of the more extensive items that the AAA provided was a video put together by its sports medicine advisory committee to help athletes and coaches prepare for the summer conditions and the 2020-21 school year. In the video, Joey Walters, the AAA's deputy executive director, was joined by Dr. Michael Israel, a sports medicine physician at Arkansas Children's Hospital, and Cabot School District head athletic trainer Jason Cates, who serves as the chairman of the AAA's sports medicine advisory committee. The three discussed a variety of topics, including educational tools involving the coronavirus.
"They did a great job with that," Taylor said. "Several of them worked together on trying to get kids acclimated back in and make sure they're safe. Some of them haven't been able to do anything for almost three months. So they wanted to make sure that they went slow and then build them back up.
"It's 90 degrees outside now, and they have to get acclimated to it."
Taylor feels that if everything goes as intended during Phase I, a second phase could be applied. He admitted he's not sure what that stage would entail, but he does believe that it would be a step closer to activities getting back to normal.
"I'm not privy to what that phase would include, but looking at what we've done, the close-contact sports where there's no team practices or competition could possibly begin," he said. "I'm assuming that in Phase II, hopefully there would be team practices where they could start working with everybody, kind of like 7-on-7 football. Out there, they could all be working on plays and running plays.
"In basketball, maybe they'll be able to scrimmage where its 2-on-2, 3-on-3, 4-on-4, 5-on-5, things like that. Again, I'm just assuming that of course. And I would think that during a possible Phase 3, maybe there will be competitions with somebody else besides themselves. We'll just have to see how everything unfolds."
Sports on 06/03/2020