High School Football
The Fort Mill School District will soon discuss the issue of sports and practices within the district based on the CDC and S.C. High School League guidelines.

FORT MILL – The Fort Mill School District will discuss next week when sports can start back.

                Guidelines were released Thursday afternoon by the S.C. High School League about the return of sports. The eight-page document laid out the reopening in phases like most governments have for cities and states. For the High School League, they left the reopening of sports to the individual school districts across the state saying they need to follow the three-phased guidelines.

                “We all want to get back, but we have to do it to where it is safe to the community,” said Dr. Chuck Epps, Fort Mill School District Superintendent.

                Epps said the district will meet the week of June 1 with staff to discuss how to best get the ball rolling to safely implement an opening.

                “We will look at what the High School League said and the cost to prepare facilities,” he said.

                Currently the Fort Mill School District has everything shut down until July 1 when it comes to the use of athletic facilities. They even cancelled sports camps within the district for the month of June, pushing them into July as the earliest time they could be held.

                The guidelines from the High School League allows for three phases to the approach. The guidelines outline only phase one of the approach and state that phase two and phase three will be revisited in the future.

                “The overreaching goal of all phases is minimizing or eliminating the number of COVID-19 cases that can be attributed to time spent in organized sports activities,” the guidelines stated.

                The High School League also states that everyone should participate in the core recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which includes things such as practicing six feet social distancing, washing hands, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects, wearing a face mask in public, covering your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing and other common sense approaches.

                Nation Ford head football coach Michael Allen said he was wondering how the new guidelines fit in together with what has been socially acceptable for the past two months.

                “The guidelines are extensive and will protect our kids,” he said. “It is all about planning. Our (coaching) staff has been planning for the past two months. There is a lot of logistics. All we were doing was hoping for a chance to move forward.”

                However, since these guidelines are all left to the school districts individually, school district A might be able to start with sports before school district B, thus giving them a competitive advantage once actual play begins.

                “It will be huge advantage on competition down the road,” Allen said. “Preparation is critical and safety is of the upmost importance.”

                Phase one of the guidelines includes the following:

1. Maintain minimum physical distancing of six feet between participants at all times. 

2. Daily health screening of athletes, coaches, and staff by a health care professional or designated fulltime district/school employee. If an individual answers YES to any of these questions, then they cannot participate on that day. a. Fever at 100.4 or higher in the past 72 hours? b. Cough, difficulty breathing, sore throat or new loss of taste or smell, vomiting or diarrhea? c. Contact with a person known to be infected with COVID-19 within the previous 14 days? d. Compromised immune system or chronic diseases?

3. Temperature screening will be done on each athlete, coach and staff daily by a health care professional or designated fulltime district/school employee. If temperature is equal to or greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, then that individual will not be allowed to stay on site.

  4. Face coverings that completely cover the nose and mouth are required for everyone.

a. Athletes  i. Must wear a face covering when not actively participating in the sports activity. ii. Face covering or masks should be worn in sports where the covering is not inhibitory iii. Face coverings should not be shared. Non-disposable face coverings should be cleaned and disinfected daily.

b. Coaches and Staff i. Must wear a face covering at all times while on site.

5. Athletes, coaches and staff should come dressed for participation.

6. Use of locker rooms and/or offices is prohibited during Phase 1.

7. Bathroom access will be limited to every other stall, with no more people allowed inside than the number of stalls in use.

8. Alcohol based hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol or adequate hand washing facilities should be provided for all participants.

9. Weight rooms, restrooms, meeting rooms and other multi-use facilities that include high touch surfaces should be sanitized frequently during each event. Shared equipment should be cleaned and disinfected in between each user.

10. Individuals should bring a personal water bottle to each workout and not share this bottle with anyone. Disposable cups should be used for those that do not have access to their own water bottle. Use of communal water fountains is not recommended.

11. Personal contact should be avoided at all times. This includes, but is not limited to: huddles, high- fives, handshaking, fist-bumping, and chest-bumping.

12. Times for starting and ending workouts should be staggered among multiple sports teams to avoid having large numbers of athletes in the same location at the same time.

13. Signs must be posted at the front entrance to alert athletes, coaches and staff not to enter the facility if they have had known exposure to someone with Covid-19 in the past 14 days or have symptoms such as cough, sore throat, fever, shortness of breath, or loss of taste or smell.

14. Signs must be posted at all building entrances advising the public that they may wish to refrain from entering if they are 65 years of age or older or have underlying health conditions including high blood pressure, chronic lung disease, diabetes, severe obesity, asthma or weakened immunity.

15. No spitting of sunflower seeds, tobacco or sputum is allowed on site.

16. If spectators are permitted to attend, they should remain in an area that provides a reduced opportunity for transmission of any illness while providing an opportunity to observe. Maintain 6 ft. social distancing to the greatest extent possible. Face coverings should be worn in spectator area if at all possible.

Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep