National federation of state high school athletic associations releases guidelines to reopen

The National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations (NFHS) released a suggested, three-phase system to reopen athletics and activities. 

The National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations (NFHS) released a suggested, three-phase system to reopen athletics and activities. The NFHS took the recommendation from its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC).

“The NFHS SMAC believes it is essential to the physical and mental well-being of high school students across
the nation to return to physical activity and athletic competition,” the release states.

In Phase I – which would already be implemented when schools open weight rooms in Nebraska on June 1 –  would require schools to limit workouts to 10 people or less, maintain social distancing, take temperatures of each person involved before workouts and maintain detailed logs of those screenings. Workout groups should remain the same on a daily basis as well.

No sport-specific drills would be allowed in Phase I.

Phase II would be essentially following the same guidelines while allowing outdoor workouts to have up to 50 participants with indoor workouts remaining at 10 athletes. Lower risk sports, such as golf and individual running, could resume practice during this phase.

The final Phase (Phase III) is when many more guidelines are added to help with the return of medium risk (basketball, volleyball, etc.) and high risk (football, wrestling, etc.) sports. Temperatures would not be required before workouts and teams could also resume sport-specific drills. However, detailed logs of each individual would still need to be taken.

While athletes participated, face masks would be highly encouraged in times of low intensity in workouts. This would include football players replacing their helmets with face masks on the sideline, golfers wearing face masks throughout competition and basketball players on the bench. Coaches, trainers and referees would be required to wear masks at all times.

It’s worth noting that all of these guidelines are suggested, and each state will create their own set of rules.

The full version of the NFHS’s guidelines can be found here.