While we await the official guidelines for Cross Country, I thought I'd take a look at the earlier Fall Sports guidance issued by the WVSSAC and what it could mean for us. I have no inside information. This is purely speculation on my part about how things could be handled.
Extended Sidelines - increase amount of space for social distancing of athletes, coaches, and officials
Obviously, the starting line and the finish line will be the main issues here. Given that teams will be
traveling to meets as a group (generally), I'm going to assume this is going to apply to keeping teams separated
as much as possible. At the starting line, I think this could be accomplished by having the starting boxes
6 feet apart. In some locations, that could be easy. At others, it could be difficult. At the finish line,
I suppose host teams must do their best to keep athletes 6 feet apart as they navigate the finish chute. This
might necessitate a larger number of finish line workers, which kind of flies in the face of keeping the numbers
in the area down. It might also help to have multiple finish chutes, so that if one starts to fill, the next
group can be re-routed. Keeping the chutes 6 feet apart might be a little more tricks as sticking a bunch of
finishers side-by-side instead of in a line accomplishes nothing.
Identification of Travel Squads - to help limit number of people traveling.
This could be bad news for those really large teams. Those schools that have 30 or 40 runners on their teams
could be face limits to the number of athletes they can bring to a meet. This could be accomplished by the host
only allowing 10 entries (or some other number) per team to their meet. Larger teams might have to try to pull
off split squad meets to accomplish this. In other words, this 10 goes to Meet A, this 10 goes to Meet B, this
team goes to Meet C. This would require having enough coaching staff and transportation funding to accomplish
this. A less palatable option would be this 10 gets to compete this weekend, this 10 gets to compete on
Tuesday, etc.
Pre-Game Meals - modify pre-game meals. Consider Grab and Go when possible.
I dont' take this to mean those "night before" team meals that some teams do, though the recommendation could
be interpreted as wanting those to go away as well. I'm taking it to reference those longer trips when you have
to stop for a meal. The best course of action here is probably to provide the team with a bagged meal prior to
leaving. I guess option number two is carryout from wherever you stop so that you are not in a location with
others for an extended period of time and perhaps even staggering the number of athletes that go in at a time
so that no particular athlete (i.e. the one last in line) is in the place for more than a few minutes.
Dressing Rooms - limit use as much as possible. Have athletes come to game in uniform whenever possible.
Your team should be in uniform when you leave for the meet without an expectation of changing when you get
to your destination. In most locations, people change in the bathrooms, so it's not realistic to expect the host
to close the dressing rooms in this instance. However, having your athletes already in uniform keeps the congestion
in the bathrooms, which are normally pretty tight quarters, to a minimum. As an added bonus, it frees up the stalls
for people that actually need to...you know...use the bathroom.
Modify Schedules - reduce number of teams competing in regular season tournaments.
This is pretty obvious, but how to accomplish it isn't necessarily as clear cut. It is possible that we're
only allowed to have meets with 5 or 6 teams or with 50 athletes or that MS and HS won't be allowed to attend the
same meets. This particular ruling, however it comes down, could have a dramatic impact of team's schedules as
Meet Hosts have to turn teams away. It could give rise to a whole new batch of meets with teams that got turned
away hosting a meet in place of going to the one that turned them away. It's also possible that some of the
historically larger meets will decide they don't want to operate with limited numbers and simply cancel their
meet as costs of hosting may outweigh the entry fees and gate receipts. Another thought in this one is the potential
for staggered starts. Perhaps a meet could have more athletes attend if they use a staggered start. Maybe 50 go
at a time with a minute or so in between starts. This might require having them cross timing mats at both the start
and the finish and having the timing chips on either their shoes or their bibs. It could be done manually, but it
would have to be determined beforehand which athletes would start at which time and would require a fair amount of
manual input on the part of the computer operator if there are not enough timing mats at the start to cover the length of
the starting line. Perhaps the hosts of some of the road races that have used staggered starts could provide some
guidance on how they've made this work.
Water - do not supply water bottles for shared use. Have each student bring his or her own bottle.
Well...we should be doing this any way. Don't drink out of someone else's bottle. Duh...
Sideline Limits - limit sidelines to essential personnel only.
This could involve restrictions regarding who is allowed near the starting line, the finish line, and out
on the course. Teams could be limited to one coach at the starting area. Courses could be restricted to coaches
only or maybe even no one allowed out on the course at all. The finish line area could be restricted to keep
coaches and parents away from the area.
Pay Per View Options - WVSSAC will provide schools with more information.
I don't see this working very well for Cross Country. I haven't seen any of the "more information," so
I don't know what is involved, but without multiple cameras or at least one following the leaders, it would
be hard to make this work.
Pre-Game Conferences - limit number of people involved in pre-game conference.
The only thing that really comes to mind here is those meets that gather everyone together for the starter
to go over the starting procedure with the athletes. That could be replaced with gathering the coaches or
gathering the captains or with something included in the coaches' packet at the meet. It would be up to the
coaches to share the appropriate information with their respective teams.
Keep Hands to Yourself - no handshakes, hand slaps, high fives, back slaps, etc. No unnecessary contact with others.
I think this about covers it. But
in all seriousness, this will be fairly hard to pull off. A lot of this is just natural instinct. Basically, think
of a lot of what you consider "good sportsmanship," and don't do it.
Electronic Ticketing - WVSSAC will send more info to schools.
I'm not sure what this might entail. It's possible that people planning to come to a meet could purchase
their ticket electronically before the meet and simply show evidence of that purchase at the gate rather than
handing cash back and forth.
Disinfectants and cleaning agents - Use CDC and WVDHHR recommended cleaning products for equipment & Facilities.
This is more of a pre-meet, post-meet and pre-practice, post-practice concept.
Electronic Whistles - may be used in non-football sports. Official is to provide their own.
This could change the whistle commands at meets. The official making the whistle commands is socially distanced,
but a potentially large group of runners could be about to run by within 5 seconds. This could be mitigated by
the placement of the official. It could also cause a complete replacement of the starting procedure, perhaps using
nothing the but flag and the gun.
Band and Cheerleaders - recommended that band and cheer do not travel to road games.
I don't think we really have to worry about this.
COVID Screening - use of CDC screening questions. Temperature checks are local school decision.
Ideally, each school would do temperature checks before allowing their athletes on the bus. If a meet host were
to elect to require temperature checks at the venue, it would add a great deal of time to the meet, and then there
is the issue of who does the check. Whoever is doing the check would be exposed to a potentially large number of
athletes, and there is the potential for foul play. We hate to think that any of our fellow coaches would do this,
but you can imagine a scenario in which a coach goes ahead and puts their kid on the line despite a fever because
of his or her importance to the team (think Conference and Regional Meets), or the possibility of inappropriately
elevating the reading of a top athlete from a competing team. Again, I would like to think that no one would do
either of those things, but it also isn't outside the realm of possibility. I think the best solution is having
each school do the check before they board the bus, or upon arrival to the meet for the athlets of the host team.
Reporting Suspicious Cases - follow local health department guidelines for reporting suspicious cases.
This is another one that is a bit tricky. Hopefully no one would file a false report in hopes of eliminating
a competing athlete, but there are some unethical people out there. I'm thinking just in terms of meets, and
perhaps this is just meant for coaches monitoring their teams at practice. Johnny doesn't look so good today and
seems to be having trouble breathing. Maybe make sure he gets checked.