Private schools await a final plan for restarting fall sports

Planning for fall sports during so much uncertainty is surely puzzling.

“It’s a jigsaw puzzle,” said Dick Kemper, executive director of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. “I don’t know how we do it yet.”

Kemper and the VISAA’s sports medicine committee sent out a framework for reopening in early June that offers cross country, girls tennis and golf as the sports that could begin play first.

“They’re the minimum sports that you could have without the risk of transmitting the disease right now,” Kemper said.

The VISAA listed boys soccer, field hockey and volleyball as moderate-risk fall sports and football as high-risk.

Conditioning for all sports is permitted at this time, Kemper said, although all athletes must have a new physical to begin.

The VISAA does have several mandates regardless of risk level:

■ Sideline players and coaches must wear masks/

optional use for in-game players.

■ No shared personal equipment (water bottles, towels, etc.).

■ Players using gloves while in competition will be optional for all sports.

■ No shared game equipment for Phase II sports (tennis and golf ).

Guidelines for higher-risk sports are to be determined. The VISAA’s sports medicine committee will meet again Tuesday to discuss further restrictions and updates.

“We’re just trying to find out where we are,” Kemper said. “And with us, before anybody can do anything, they have to submit their plan for reopening their schools and a health-compliance document to the Virginia Council for Private Education before they can start using their facilities.”

Beyond that, Kemper expressed concern about football, travel for all sports and determining state champions should fall sports get to that point.

“I’ve heard from some of our conferences there’s no way they’re going to northern Virginia,” Kemper said. “They’re not traveling to that area to play. That would mean more of a regional schedule. How can we do that, and if we decided to do that, how could we have a state championship? How do you determine number of people that can attend?

“We’re trying to figure that out.” Added Kemper: “It’s not just an easy, ‘OK, we’re gonna start and see what happens.’ There’s the fear factor coming in when you have testing going on now and positive cases are going up. It’s a cautionary period of trying to move forward and doing the right things to keep the kids safe while giving them the opportunity to play.”