Connor Ridenour puts on the number 7 jersey for the first time in months as the Roosevelt football team starts to practice again. As he runs out on the field he feels excited to get back to playing with his Rider family.
“I know a bunch of us missed each other… And we’re all excited to get back out there and really just get some exercise in and just look forward to the better side of this off-season,” says junior Ridenour.
Sports are finally starting up again! Do you want to get involved?
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, or the WIAA, have created a four-season year due to COVID. Sports were not regulated to play at the beginning of fall, so season one was cancelled.
Season two officially starts December 28. Season two is for boys and girls basketball, girls bowling, boys swim and dive, girls gymnastics, and wrestling.
However, these are not the only sports practicing. The open-coaching period for all sports started on September 28. Currently girls and boys swimming, girls and boys cross-country, girls and boys basketball, co-ed golf, softball, baseball, football, tennis, and frisbee are all holding practices to train for the upcoming seasons.
Each team looks different in terms of practicing. “… what determines if a team practices or not is all based on coaching availability… and there are other factors that go into that too… unfortunately nobody can go into the school, so we can’t get gym use,” says Ryan Sherlock, the Roosevelt Athletic Director. Because of this, COVID has dramatically changed the format of practice.
Sherlock says that all practices have a “baseline that has to happen with COVID in general.” Every team has to have all of their athletes fill out their athletic forms. Every time an athlete comes to practice they have to have their temperature taken, get a symptom screening, and take attendance in order to track who’s there.
Each sport has a different set of return-to-play guidelines from the WIAA that are then adopted by the metro league in order to keep practices at a low-risk for exposure.
Are sports teams maintaining 6 feet and wearing masks during practices? Short answer: no. If you’re playing an outdoor activity and working out, you are not required to wear your mask.
Since football has started practices, regulations have held tight on bleaching and cleaning all of the equipment after practice. However, for a sport such as football, it can be hard to keep on a mask when exerting yourself physically.
The football team claims they’re being as safe as possible; “Some of our parents have health restrictions so almost all of us are wearing masks when we’re all together hanging out. If we start to work out then we pull them down so we can breathe better,” says football player, Ridenour. Masks are on for screenings or water breaks, and off when working out.
Which sports are at high risk? Low-risk sporting activities include golf, tennis, track and field, cross country, no-contact cheerleading, dance, and swimming and diving.
Moderate-risk sporting activities include: baseball, softball, bowling, gymnastics, soccer, and volleyball.
High-risk sports include: basketball, cheerleading and dance with contact, football, and wrestling.
Are Roosevelt sports following the WIAA guidelines? So far, no one has been scrimmaging or playing against other schools, and screenings have been recorded for each sport.
Since all Roosevelt sports are able to practice and possibly play, if you want to get involved, sign-ups are online. Fill out your athletic forms and an up-to-date physical on file to https://seattleschools-wa.finalforms.com.
