There are no definite plans for what fall sports are going to be next school year as of right now. However, Athletic Director Steve Glesenkamp, said he has some ideas about what fall sports could potentially look like.
“We like to know what the CDC, Ohio Dept of Health, and the Delaware General Health District are doing [about Covid-19 guidelines],” Glesenkamp said. “In athletics, we also follow the Ohio High School Athletic Association, so what we will do this summer is take in guidance from all these different organizations and that will help determine what our plans are come August 1. I think it is a little premature to say right now exactly what we are going to do in the fall.”
One possible change Glesenkamp said could happen is that capacity for sporting events may increase next year.
“This year, for capacity, we started out at 15% in the stadium and gymnasium,” Glesenkamp said. “In the spring, that got increased to 30%, so we will again follow those different organizations and see where we end up in fall for capacities for students and parents to be able to come. The goal certainly is to increase that capacity.”
With the possibility of increased capacity, students and fans can look forward to being able to go to all their favorite sporting events.
“If everybody’s back in school, why wouldn’t we be going to all of these different school activities?” Glesenkamp said.
Junior Jamie Hake said she’s excited to start going to all sporting events, but mainly football games again next year.
“It would be so nice for everyone to start going back to Friday night football games next year, and not just the families of the athletes,” Hake said. “Especially with next year being my senior year, I would like to go to not just football games but other school events as well.”
With athletics starting to possibly open up, Glesenkamp is still going to proceed with caution as Covid-19 is still present.
“We still want to be very mindful, because we do know that [Covid-19] will still be around. Now will vaccinations help? Heck yeah,” Glesenkamp said. “I think [vaccines] will go a long way into the success of athletics and our schools. The more people that get vaccinated, I would think that would increase our chances of being able to move forward with getting back to ‘normal’.”
As more and more people get vaccinated, the less likely it is for people to contract Covid-19, therefore less people will need to quarantine if they come into contact with someone that has been exposed to Covid-19.
“What I do think will happen is that any athlete that is fully vaccinated I think will not be subject to quarantine if a teammate tests positive for Covid-19,” Glesenkamp said. “My goal next year is to not shut down any teams, but rather just have the people that are not vaccinated and are exposed not be able to be involved. I think anyone that is fully vaccinated will be a benefit for them in athletic participation.”
Although people will not have to wear a mask as of June 2, schools still have a final say as to whether or not masks should be worn.
“Even though the CDC says to get rid of your mask, schools still have the ability to say ‘we’re still going to have mask wearing.’ Schools still have the ability to micromanage within that policy,” Glesenkamp said.
With changes to fall sports still being up in the air, there will be clear-cut decisions coming as we get closer to the start of fall sports.
“August 1… is still two months out, which is a lot of time. Things can change drastically in a couple months. I think we will have definitive answers in that timeframe,” Glesenkamp said. “Every week, every two weeks, every month, things to me would appear that they are improving.”