Safety measures in place for games
There will be many safety protocols in place for fans attending tonight’s American Legion doubleheader at Norphlet with the El Dorado Drillers and the El Dorado Oilers hosting Arkansas Pulpwood.
Coach Greg Harrison said fans are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs and ice chests to store food and drinks due to there not being a concession stand available, as well as parts of the seating behind home plate will be blocked in order not to allow people to gather.
“They can sit together as a family, but they need to be somewhere about 20 feet apart from somebody else,” Harrison said. “We have asked our ballplayers to tell their parents and grandparents to bring their own lawn chairs. The one thing about Norphlet’s field is that it’s spread out. It is very easy to have social distancing at that location.
“We have requested that all of our ballplayers bring at least two drinks for yourself if we’re playing a single game, four if it’s a doubleheader. We cannot have a water cooler. We cannot provide any type of food or beverages to our ballplayers, so they need to bring their own. We won’t have a concession stand at our home games, so we’ve encouraged our ballplayers to tell their parents and grandparents to bring their ice chests. They’re more than welcome to bring their own drinks and food.
“One of the strict stipulations that we do have is you have to bag and drop off trash in all of the dumpsters. We will have dumpsters at just about every pole behind the first base and third base dugouts. We definitely want to make sure all of the players are responsible not only for themselves, but for their parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, girlfriends. They’re responsible for all of the trash that they could have. They have taken on that responsibility. They will hold it to the utmost priority.”
Harrison said he has worked closely with Norphlet Mayor Jim Crotty on seating at Lambert Field, as well as Smackover Superintendent Jason Black and Athletic Director David Osborn on
the logistics of getting everything set up and approved.
“We have already put a game plan in place as far as blocking off certain sections that will be inaccessible to people that come in to the field,” Harrison said. “We’ve looked at trying to section off the stands behind the home plate area. That way, we will discourage any type of central location for gathering. We definitely want to encourage social distancing. I want to thank them for the opportunity to be able to play.”
Players and coaches will also undergo screening.
“We are screening every one of our players and coaches,” Harrison said. “I will take their temperatures, and we are going to have face coverings for everyone when they’re not on the field. We’ve ordered quite a few that are going to be disposable for our ballplayers throughout this season. We’re going to be frequently sanitizing equipment. One good thing about it is many of our players have their own bats and helmets. I also have bats, helmets and catching equipment for each team, but many of our catchers, especially on the junior team, have their own equipment.”
Harrison added that parents will not be allowed to attend practices and the use of the playground that lies on the third-base side of the park is prohibited.
“We definitely want to encourage social distancing, so some of the guidelines we will have in place is parents are prohibited from our practices,” Harrison said. “We definitely don’t want to have people out there standing too close talking to each other. We want to set an example following the governor’s directives.”