The 2020 high school summer sports season officially begins today, although practices over the next ten days will look vastly different than a typical session.

As baseball and softball teams take two weeks to prepare for competition, they do so with some of the following guidelines in place:

-No dugouts are to be used during practice. All equipment should be lined up against the fence and six feet apart
-Parents are to remain in cards during pick up/drop off before/after practices
-Coaches are to sanitize shared equipment before and after each practice
-Players/coaches are encouraged to bring their own hand sanitizer
-Players should use their own equipment as much as possible
-Coaches are required to ensure players practice social distancing as much as possible
-Athletes are responsible for their own drinks

Additionally, coaches should know about any pre-existing conditions of all at practice and work with school nurses or local health officials to take additional precautions. Absences related to potential COVID-19 are to be tracked, and public health departments should be contacted if a positive case is reported.

Games will start as soon as Monday, June 15th. This week, KNIA/KRLS will release a preliminary broadcast schedule for Pella, Knoxville, Pella Christian, and Indianola, with several games to be featured on the airwaves during the four weeks of the regular season.

Resources from IHSAA/IGHSAU:

https://www.iahsaa.org/covid-19/
https://ighsau.org/upl/downloads/library/softball-2020-softball-season-guidance-2.pdf
https://ighsau.org/news/softball-and-baseball-signs/
https://ighsau.org/upl/downloads/library/posters-2020-jointplayitsafe.pdf