WIAA releases return to play guidelines

Sports are incredibly important to the well-being of the student-athlete. Take a look at this report from UW-Health Research (via WisSports.net). The negative outcomes of keeping these kids shut-down are staggering. It is very good news that there will be something this fall for student-athletes to engage in. Their physical and mental well-being is at stake.

Today, the WIAA has released sport-specific guidelines to resuming play. Here’s the full report. It’s a follow up to their previous general guidelines they distributed about a week ago.

We are so glad that high school sports will be able to restart this fall. We know it’s going to be difficult to implement and enforce some of these standards, but we have coaches and administrators who care deeply about the student-athletes and will do their best.

Some of the WIAA Guidelines…
  • If a person has 100.4 or above temp and/or respiratory symptoms (cough, shortness of breath), they should not attend practice or games.
  • They can return once they are fever free and respiratory symptom-free for at least 72 hours and TEN days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
  • Written medical clearance is required to return to activity.
  • Spectators should practice social distancing between different households and accept personal responsibility for public health guidelines.
  • Teams will not shake hands.
  • Masks are not required but encouraged for coaches. If a player wants to wear a mask, that’s ok and there’s no limitation on what the mask looks like.
  • Concession stands are not recommended.
There are a lot of different guidelines for each sport. Here are some guidelines that stuck out…

Football:

  • Players licking fingers or touching their mouthguard – If a quarterback touches their mouth, practice is stopped and the quarterback must sanitize their hands. If they touch the ball after going to their mouth, stop the practice, remove the ball from play to be sanitized and the quarterback/player sanitize their hands.
  • Mouthguards should remain in their mouth. If a player touches their mouthguard, they must immediately sanitize their hands. Players are encouraged to bring their own hand sanitizer (at least 60% alcohol).

Volleyball:

  • If a player touches their mouth or spits on their hands, practice is stopped and the player must sanitize their hands.
  • DO NOT sanitize the volleyball with alcohol wipes… the porous surface of the ball is damaged by the chemical properties in the wipes. The guidelines have a link to recommended disinfecting products.
  • Recommendations regarding what the student-athlete should bring in their personal gym bag are listed and they say, “Everything inside the gym bag must be disinfected after every practice – before you return to practice again. Be sure to
    spray the inside and the outside of the bag as well. This is for everyone’s protection, we don’t want to take a chance of
    carrying any potential virus back and forth.”

Cross Country:

  • No spitting or clearing of your nose.
Other sports the document covers:
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Golf
  • Gymnastics
  • Hockey
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Swimming and Diving
  • Tennis
  • Track & Field
  • Wrestling

Read the full WIAA sport-specific guidelines here