Due to COVID-19 and school closure, spring sports had an abrupt ending for the 2020 season. With most schools continuing NTI (Non-Traditional Instruction) there was a lot in question with the 2020 fall sports season. 

Throughout the months of July and August the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) has been meeting and working diligently to put in place guidelines for this season leading up to the school year. 

On August 19th, the KHSAA officially ruled to resume all fall sports including football, volleyball, cross country, soccer, and field hockey. Which all began practices on August 24th and the first competition will begin September 11th for football and September 7th for the remainder of fall sports.
Here is the game format recommend by the KHSAA:

In order for schools to maintain the ability to practice they must follow the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines of socially distancing of six feet.

“I like it (social distance) because we’re not all bunched up together and it’s a better chance of us not getting the virus if we’re six feet apart,” football player Curtis Rearden (11, HSU) said.

Contact sports such as football could seem more difficult to social distance compared to sports such as cross country, but there are still guidelines,  “we keep our distance between certain drills, wear masks, and wipe down our pads and sanitize our hands after every drill,” Rearden said. 

KHSAA also made a requirement that all players and coaches must have temperatures taken and constant sanitation. 

“We have to disinfect our balls after every drill and wear face buffs at all times when we’re not doing drills,” volleyball player Emily Jaggers (12, YPAS) said. 

Guidelines for sports competitions

The KHSAA has enforced a roster limit on each fall sport to help minimize the number of people per area, soccer (24),  cross country (10),  volleyball (15), field Hockey (24), and football (36).

In addition to the roster restrictions, there will not be allowed interscholastic scrimmages and all schools have a maximum number of regular season games per sport, soccer (14), cross country (9), volleyball (24), field hockey (16), and football (9).

In regards to attendance to fall sporting events there will be three different segments which include 20% of capacity, 30% of capacity, and 40% of capacity. To begin the Crimsons season there will be an attendance limit of 20% at a social distance. 

Many worried throughout the process on if fall sports would actually be allowed, and if fans were able to attend, “It (social distance practice) sucks, but we’re grateful we are able to play and still have fans… it’s going to be a good year mask or not,” Jaggers said.