Association approves fall sports season

Along with a schools being open to students Aug. 19, the Wyoming High School Athletics Association plans to host fall sports competition as well.

An announcement from the WHSAA last week confirmed the fall season for all six sports: football, volleyball, tennis, cross country, golf and girls swimming. Practices are set to start Aug. 10 for 4A football, tennis and golf while practices for cross country, 1A-3A football, girls swimming and volleyball begin Aug. 17.

“We are excited for our students,” Ron Laird, WHSAA commissioner, said in the announcement. “We appreciate the (Wyoming Department of Health) and (Wyoming Department of Education) working with us to be able to approve a plan we all believe can safely return our students to their sport. This is a great example of how working together will allow our students to continue to enhance their educational experience. We know the mental and emotional issues those students experienced last spring when track and soccer were cancelled.”

“It’s exciting and also stressful at the same time,” Tony Beardsley, athletics director for Sweetwater County School District No. 2, said.

He said one of the key pieces of data used to convince the state’s health department was that more than 4,000 athletes attended summer workouts throughout the state without a known COVID-19 case being reported.

Beardsley said athletics directors met throughout the week to tweak team schedules in situations where multiple teams compete at an event. For example, with cross country, only three teams can compete at an event. He said athletics directors worked out which teams should attend which events while keeping to the three-team limit.

Beardsley also said similar discussions for girls swimming also occurred For volleyball, he said the early season tournaments may see some adjustments, but doesn’t anticipate changes to individual games. Middle school sports will be discussed Thursday and Beardsley believes more information will be available by the end of the week.

Travel for teams will be somewhat different as athletes will be required to wear masks while on the bus because social distancing isn’t possible for large teams. He said athletes may be required to undergo temperature checks and COVID-19 screenings to ensure healthy players are competing.

With fans, Beardsley said they’re still working out the details regarding but said the district will follow whatever the state guidelines end up being. He said he’s not sure if it will be just families attending games or they will offer options for other spectators to attend, but said the district can stream games online from both Wolves Stadium and Green River High School’s gym for people to view.

Overall, however, Tony is optimistic the season can proceed without setbacks, so long as everyone adheres to guidelines they’re issued.

“I feel good about (the plan,)” Beardsley said.