High school sports scheduled to start next week, masks will be required for fans

Charles Page High School softball and volleyball are scheduled to begin next week, with football and cross country soon to follow. The teams have been practicing and scrimmaging for the past few weeks with no known cases of COVID-19 spread.

The spring season was canceled earlier this year, depriving the boys’ basketball team of a State Tournament appearance, and robbing the slow pitch softball, baseball, soccer, tennis, and golf teams of almost their entire season.

The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association declined to enforce specific rules for high schools to follow as the new season begins, but the schools can be expected to enact their own precautions to ensure the season continues as safely as possible.

Sand Springs athletic events will be requiring masks for all participants, coaches, workers, officials, and fans entering school property. Participants, officials, and coaches will be allowed to remove their masks when they reach their playing field or court, but fans will be expected to remain covered at all times.

Sand Springs ticket takers and sellers will be masked and gloved, and will remain behind a plexiglass partition. The district is also encouraging fans to purchase an All-Sport Season Pass to reduce contact with box office workers.

The district is discouraging pre and post-game handshakes, high-fives, fist bumps, etc. Athletes will not be allowed to share towels, clothing, shoes, or water bottles. Shared equipment like bats, helmets, and catcher’s gear will be disinfected between users.

“We have been following a pretty strict routine each day with our athletes and coaches,” says Athletic Director Rod Sitton. “We have a COVID-19 questionnaire that each player must answer before entering our facilities. We are also doing temperature checks at the gate/door each day. So far we have dodged the bullet.”

“As far as competitions we will follow (these) guidelines both at home and when traveling. The guidelines also dictate what the fans can expect when coming to a Sandite Athletic event.  We are not planning on reducing the number of fans that can attend our events. Of course this could all change tomorrow. People following the guidelines will help us to keep Athletics going and open to the public.  Again I must reiterate that this can all change in a moments notice as everything has to be fluid during this pandemic.“

Sandite Softball will travel to Tahlequah Monday at 5:00 p.m. to start their season, while the volleyball team will host Bixby Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Cross Country won’t start their year till the 27th at the Owasso Ram Relays, while the football team will travel to Sapulpa on the 28th.