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CHSAA gives hints about restart of preps sports

Is golf on the clock?

Golf may be the first high school sports out of the gate this fall, according to the CHSAA Resocialization Task Force.
Chris Dillmann | Daily file photo

So what a low-risk sport and what’s a higher-risk sport?

Those were the first questions the CHSAA Resocialization Task Force took on during Wednesday’s meeting. The committee is brainstorming a return to high school sports in the age of COVID-19.

Golf, tennis and skiing are the sports contested by our four local high schools which fall under “lower risk.”



Cross country, soccer, softball, volleyball, baseball, lacrosse, and track and field are considered “moderate risk,” by the committee.

Football, basketball, hockey and wrestling are “higher risk.”

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In a statement on CHSAA’s website, the committee said, “That the CHSAA staff explore beginning lower-risk sports at the start of the 2020-21 school year.”

As for sports considered “moderate” or “higher risk,” “the task force wants CHSAA to gather definitive interpretations of state guidelines and medical data on when it would be safe to initiate their seasons. At this point, CHSAA is not able to move forward with sports classified as moderate and high-risk. The hope is to be able to find an opportunity to play those sports at some point during the 2020-21 school year.”

Before all panic, the task force is speaking on June 3. Battle Mountain soccer (moderate) begins its schedule on Aug. 21, while local football (higher risk) starts Aug 28-29.

Eagle County moved from the green-circle to the blue-square stage of reopening on May 25. Among other things, that allows gathering of up to 50 people as long as social distancing is maintained.

Hypothetically, the county would likely need to progress to the black-diamond level to allow bigger gatherings for schools to be in session and the ensuing sporting events.

Were Eagle County to continue its progress with COVID-19, boys’ golf would be the first sport back. It seems logical, given that the sport was invented on social distancing. Player A hits his ball in the fairway. Player B hits the ball in the rough.

What’s more all four of Eagle County’s public golf courses — Vail, EagleVail, Eagle Ranch and Gypsum Creek have opened and their tee sheets have been busy, while observing COVID-19 rules.

The bigger question is how do sports that involve contact, some moreso (football) than others (soccer and volleyball), play? There is no such thing as a no-risk environment.

“The task force acknowledged that the goal in returning to play has to include mitigating the risk, as it is not possible to eliminate it entirely,” the statement said.


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