State College approves interim fall sports plan, with practice to begin Friday
State College sports will move forward with an interim plan for the fall. The State College Area School District school board voted early Thursday morning by a vote of 8-1 to approve the plan, which will allow all fall sports teams to practice moving forward, with limitations for football and other sports that involve contact.
The Little Lion football team will not be allowed to tackle or block person-to-person while the plan is in place.
Football players are permitted to block and tackle “while using disinfected blocking and tackling shields, sleds, pads and tackling dummies,” according to the plan. Student-athletes will not be required to wear face shields.
The plan also allows for a potential fall sports season even if the school district moves to all-remote learning in the future. Instead of an immediate cancellation of fall sports, a reevaluation of their status will occur.
The interim plan will allow for several changes in comparison to the optional summer workouts plan that was previously in place.
It allows for the addition of middle school student participation, volleyball to move to an indoor gymnasium, the use of the school fitness center for after-school athletics, the use of athletic trainers and athletic training room facilities and increased equipment use with the aforementioned lack of body-to-body contact.
The plan will be in place until the board approves another plan in the future. State High will not be able to start formal fall practice until Friday because of the Mid Penn Conference’s decision to delay fall sports, but that will be delayed further after the board’s decision to make Friday a snow day due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a recent uptick in local positive COVID-19 cases. The delay moved the start date for practice to Sept. 4 and the start date for competitions to Sept. 25.
However, State High will not be permitted to engage in contests — or any type of contact in fall sports — until the board approves a plan that involves playing against other schools and engaging in contact.
