Governor Ducey of Arizona has decided that it is okay to for youth sports to happen. This is a big step forward that probably shouldn’t even be happening. As a coach I am curious about how to maintain social distance in youth football where the entire point of the sport is contact. As a dad I have to be able to trust a lot of stuff to go right in order to feel my kid is safe in this circumstance. Some teams are already practicing. Our skill kids have been at it for a few weeks without my kid, because we have some serious questions about whether or not this is a good idea. Numbers are rising in AZ, and based on what I’ve seen from the High School team my other two boys are on, there is not a terrible amount of safety protocol that can be put in place and keep the practices useful at the same time.
High School practice looks like 80’s Jazzercise. The boys tell me they are all spaced out across the field and doing calisthenics. They just call it working out. There are no footballs involved because throwing and catch are a form of transmission. At least they are putting more thought into it than the 7on7 leagues are. I caught a few clips of the weekend tournament and all of those parents and children were stacked on top of each other huddling under canopies to shield themselves from the brutal AZ heat. In other words, nobody is thinking about this virus as the problem it is.
I believe it is a problem. I don’t see this as a hoax. That leaves me very torn in regards to what to do about my kid. I let the high school kids go to practice, so why not the middle schooler?