Home Forums Long Island & Eastern New York Soccer Message Boards Roll Away The Stone Soccer News How will high school soccer proceed? The NFHS provides three-phase guidelines

by Dan Woog @danwoog,

No one yet knows if there will be high school soccer this coming year. But if there is, one thing is certain: It won’t look anything like the high school soccer of years past.

The National Federation of State High School Associations – the body that governs public school sports in the U.S., through 51 separate state organizations – has released guidelines for reopening practices and games during the pandemic. There are three phases, with dozens of sports divided into three categories.

At lowest risk are sports like swimming, golf and cheer. Wrestling, football and boys lacrosse are at highest risk. Soccer joins most sports in the “moderate risk” category.

The first phase includes temperature checks before workouts; no more than 10 people together at one time, with “pods” of the same athletes always training together; no locker rooms, and 6-foot distances at all times. Each player would train with his or her own soccer ball. All equipment – including balls – should be cleaned after each use.

The second phase involves temperature checks and allows up to 50 people for workouts, with “socially distant” locker room use. The same “pod” concept of 5-10 athletes always working out together would continue; so would 6-foot distances between every participant.

Competition would begin in Phase 3. There could be 50 or more people, with a 3-foot distance when not competing.

Masks for coaches and officials are suggested for all three phases, as well as for athletes in Phase 3 when sitting on the bench, and in locker and training rooms.

The NFHS suggests quarantining an entire team, if one player tests positive for COVID-19. It also recommends adjusting game schedules to decrease time spent traveling. “Multiple buses/vans and/or parental/guardian transportation will likely be needed” if state or local health departments mandate social distancing on buses.

The national association warns, “Due to the near certainty of recurrent outbreaks this coming fall and winter in some locales, state associations must be prepared for periodic school closures and the possibility of some teams having to isolate for two to three weeks while in-season.” States should develop policies for practices and games in those cases, including the “cancellation or premature ending to post-season events/competitions.”

The NFHS also groups people into tiers, to determine who will be allowed once games resume. Tier 1 includes “essential” personnel: athletes, coaches, officials, medical and event staff, security. The media is “preferred” in Tier 2, while spectators and vendors are deemed “non-essential,” and relegated to Tier 3. The NFHS advises that only Tier 1 and 2 members attend matches until state or local health departments lift restrictions on mass gatherings.

Finally, the federation says, hand sanitizer should be widely available at contests and practices. There should be no pre- and post-game handshakes, high fives or fist bumps. And officials may choose to use an “artificial noisemaker” in place of a whistle.

The NFHS’s 15-page document is a “guideline.” Each state association may choose to implement all, some or none of the recommendations. As coaches and athletic directors pepper their organizations with questions, state leaders respond that no decisions have yet been made. “We have to emphasize that the document states these are guidelines, and not intended to be the rulebook for what we do in North Carolina,” that state high school association’s assistant commissioner said. Boys play a fall season there; girls play in spring.

“I think it’s great guidance,” said Florida High School Athletic Association executive director George Tomyn. “I would not say that this is exactly what we’re going to do. It’s certainly good information for us to consider going forward.”

In fact, he added, “The NFHS has a healthy respect for the differences between states. And the reality for us is that Florida itself is so diverse. We have different situations in different regions within our state. We respect and understand that some districts are going to be able to move forward at different times. We must consider that.” Soccer is a winter sport in the Sunshine State.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference said they would “not put out our plan for fall sports until we have more complete data and information from the state, establishing clear guidelines for a return to school.”

High school soccer coaches are used to planning ahead. Today, more than two months into the coronavirus crisis, all they can do is wonder about tentative plans for an uncertain future.

Quarentining an entire team for 2 weeks with a single positive test? A season is never going to work

Why not? Isn’t your child’s life worth it? Everyone is gung ho until it affects their family, One lost child is too many. All for giving it a go but being ignorant is foolish.

Do you wrap your child in bubble wrap? Maybe the government should require it to protect all children? Would you do it if they did? It could definitely save a life and one life is too many to lose.

No response needed to your argument. It stands on its own.
Your child has a Better chance of making the first team.

Yeah cause so many kids have died or even get COVID. Lower chance than the flu for kids even if you get the flu shot. Start thinking on your own instead of having people tell you what to think. Oh and whatever happened to that inflammatory post reaction for kids from COVID. Oh wait half the kids that got it didn’t have COVID. Think...

Yes, the numbers are low until it's your child.......

I am thinking and the biggest problem is that we have no answers or guidance from the Federal government. They had stopped all information coming out of the CDC, WHO, as well as those scientists that have been giving us information that Trump administration have now banned from being released. They have stopped allowing them to come on news programs to discuss the latest information. All they care about is the re-election and keep repeating that the virus will disappear. Without proper information we cannot make the right choices for our children. To think the worst is over is the biggest lie of the Trump administration yet. Blind faith in his leadership will get you or your child killed in this pandemic. So far there has been 100,000 deaths which Trump won’t talk about but the newest metrics show that there will be an additional 30,000.00 deaths by the end of August. So do you now understand the trepidation smart people have about moving forward? Or are you one of the Trump fans walking around without a mask thinking they are smarter than everyone else. I saw a great sign on Facebook the other day. ‘If you hate wearing a mask you will really hate having to wear a mask on a respirator”.

Nicely said!

Valid points. The best thing for you to do would be to not let your child participate in Sports indefinitely.

Thank you CNN biased reporter

Well, I'm not going to point any moral,
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We're, waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.

Pete Seger. Nice.

yes and why don’t you send your kid to sleep away camp. I’m hearing the ones that are open will be offering very deep discounts. A great time to send your kid for the first time.take advantage of the deals to be had. And make friends for life!

And how about the executive order by trump not allowing social media to call him out for his fake facts on their platform

Many schools on Long Island don't even know how they are going to have enough school buses to get kids back and forth to school right now. And the problem will get even worse if they follow CDC guidelines and have staggered starts to school. After school activities will not be happening.

Just play

You're arguing a point that nobody is disputing. The problem isn't that the kids are going to get sick and die -- the problem is that they will may get infected and transmit the virus to people who are not young, like parents, grandparents, etc.

Why is that so hard to understand?

You're arguing a point that nobody is disputing. The problem isn't that the kids are going to get sick and die -- the problem is that they will may get infected and transmit the virus to people who are not young, like parents, grandparents, etc.

Why is that so hard to understand?

It's not hard to understand at all. It's common sense. Unfortunately too many people have the "it won't happen to me" syndrome.

They don’t understand why, but it doesn’t seem kids spread Covid. They have had no definitive proof that kids spread this. Crazy!

A very good article but to me it is clear scientists are divided on the issue. Children have been far less tested than adults so limited data exists. That being said children are exposed to adults in sport and the classroom. So the adults around them need to take the extra precaution meaning maintaining social distancing, the need to wear masks and possibly monthly testing. I would think most of us agree that many more people carried the disease without even knowing they had it, children as well as adults.

Fair but are they going to do the same for everything like CHINA WHO Dems if you only report 1 way then that is not good either

What does that even solve?

Whatever happens trump will be blamed.