For those involved in sports, all eyes are on the district and what measures they will put in place to keep student athletes safe this year. The district has already put into place some basic measures. 

“Each sport has its own recommendation from KSHSAA (the Kansas State High School Activities Association) and the district on what we can do, but the blanket statement is every student has to have temperature checked and screened every day before they enter practice,” Athletic Coordinator Kyle Haught said. 

While these measures may work for some sports many people are concerned about more close contact sports like football. 

“We take temperatures right away, if it’s a certain temperature you send them home…masks on get in and get dressed, get out as quick as possible…we get disinfectant wipes out there too, so when we get done with practice we’ll wipe stuff down, footballs, equipment, etc. I’ve become an expert at doing laundry; we do a lot more laundry here. When the kids get done with stuff we go put in the washer and get it clean.” head football coach Taylor Counts said.

This year playing sports comes with a big risk to the health of the athletes and the people around them. 

“It’s a lot of stuff, when you think about it you’re kind of just want to play football but you got to focus on all these things first just so we can have football,” Counts said. “That takes a lot of time and it’s a lot of extra work, but you know it’s definitely worth it, we want to practice, and we want to be able to play we got to.”

Football isn’t the only close contact sport that has many new regulations. 

“For volleyball…on game night our benches are different, they’re staggered and have to be wiped off after each team uses them,” head volleyball coach Valerie Most said.

There are some upcoming winter sports that potentially can be dangerous for student athletes, such as wrestling. 

“Right now, it’s good to go, but in terms of high risk that sport seems to be the most high risk,” Haught said.” The state is planning on having it…we are just trying to focus on the fall right now.”

 The district is expected to put out information regarding winter sports soon.