The Upcoming Season WAYGD?

[bucky]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Boys and girls cross country. Staggered starts and finishes to maintain social distancing.

Huh? So I guess that means no passing either Once the race begins, runners will be near each other big time.

I get that it is outdoors and distancing can be normal during a race. But, what sport involves more heavy breathing and close proximity to other participants over all others? My guess is CC. Runners are gasping all over the place, expelling all kinds of respiratory fluids. Spitting has also been mentioned. Seems like a recipe for transmission. They have such ritualistic testing for pros, why do they not implement similar practices at the lower levels, such as NCAA/NFHS events? They do not need to do the exact, high-cost testing, but at least something. I envision trainers performing simple testing and oversight for all the athletes. Once cleared, allow full play. Schools perform such tests, although they are very basic and mostly consist of answering questions. I could see HS sports being done normally under these practices. Same goes for officials. Maybe once testing becomes super-easy this will happen.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Distancing? In the amount of air on a cross country course?!

Originally Posted by bucky

Huh? So I guess that means no passing either ... Once the race begins, runners will be near each other big time.

Although it will vary from race to race, staggered starts mean that runners will run within a group of "cohorts" (members of their own team/school), and then compare times at the end of the race.

Also, starting groups could be smaller, faster runners in one cohort, slower runners in another cohort, males in different cohorts than females.

Also a possibility that only the fastest runners (with a real chance of scoring) would race that day.

Many years ago, in most of my son's high school dual-meets, or tri-meets, every single runner (including some real stick-to-it-ness tortoises) on the the two, or three, teams would start at the same time, boys, girls, fast, slow.



With staggered starts, one walks the course, races, and is on the bus with the same people. Easier for contact tracing.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Runners often draft behind other runners in a very narrow course and could be running through the previous runners exhaled air, and cross country runners are known for constantly spitting (in high school my son's team wore T-shirts warning of such).

Originally Posted by bucky

... more heavy breathing and close proximity to other participants over all others? My guess is CC. Runners are gasping all over the place, expelling all kinds of respiratory fluids. Spitting has also been mentioned. Seems like a recipe for transmission.

I contacted my son and he reminded me what his high school warm up shirts said "XC - We Spit On Ourselves".

[BillyMac]

From the NFHS:

Pandemic Intensifies Need to Retain, Recruit Officials For High School Sports

In addition to the many new challenges for high school sports leaders this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified concerns regarding a longstanding issue – the shortage of high school sports officials.

At this time last year, we suggested that numerous veteran officials were retiring early, in large part, because of unruly behavior by parents. In some cases, officials were quitting before they even reached two years on the job – unwilling to take abuse from parents and other adult fans.

The 2017 survey of 17,000-plus officials by the National Association of Sports Officials (NAS0) supported our views about the effects of parents’ behavior. While 42 percent of respondents said they started officiating for the love of the game, only nine percent responded that way when asked why they continue to officiate.

Although our messages were beginning to be heard across the country, we believe the pandemic will be an additional wake-up call for parents and other fans. Surely, after the events of the past seven months, these individuals will be grateful for any opportunity to attend contests this year and positively support student participants.

While the NASO survey indicated that the level of poor sportsmanship was worse in competitive youth sports (36%) and adult recreational sports (21%) than high school sports (14%), now – more than ever before – we urge parents to let players play and officials officiate.

On the flip side, however, while the pandemic may help with gaining stronger support for officials from parents and other fans, it has created other challenges – from the uncertain status of high school sports in some states to individuals opting not to return to officiating because of health concerns.

With the average age of officials nationally at about 53 years and many officials in their 60s, some individuals have not returned this fall due to COVID-19 concerns. In South Carolina, for instance, more than 80 football officials opted out this year, causing some games to be moved to Thursday nights.

Although registration of officials is down in many other states, the numbers are expected to rise some when all sports are reinstated. State associations have encouraged numerous safety measures to protect officials, such as wearing of face masks and gloves, social distancing, suspension of handshakes and attending online preseason meetings.

In addition to retaining these incredible men and women currently serving as high school contest officials, recruiting new individuals to serve in this capacity is more urgent than ever.

Since 2017, the NFHS has been involved in a national campaign – #BecomeAnOfficial – to recruit and retain officials, and the program has achieved remarkable success. Now in its fourth year, more than 44,000 individuals have expressed interest in becoming an official and have contacted their state association to start the process.

In another silver lining to COVID-19, the interest in officiating is skyrocketing this year. In the first six weeks of the 2020-21 school year, almost 6,000 people have expressed interest in officiating high school sports and have signed up through the #BecomeAnOfficial website at highschoolofficials.com. At this rate, almost 30,000 potential new officials would be identified by the end of the year – almost double the number from two years ago.

In the past, we have targeted specific groups of individuals that might be interested in officiating, such as college intramural sports directors, police, firefighters, EMTs, high school teachers and currently high school coaches.

[BillyMac]

Connecticut high school officials were in short supply at the start of the fall sports season. Now the numbers are getting worse due to the pandemic ...

https://news.yahoo.com/high-school-o...035900990.html

I heard that my local board only has as few as six new applicants this year, in past years we often filled our training classes with about two dozen applicants.

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

In another silver lining to COVID-19, the interest in officiating is skyrocketing this year. In the first six weeks of the 2020-21 school year, almost 6,000 people have expressed interest in officiating high school sports and have signed up through the #BecomeAnOfficial website at highschoolofficials.com. At this rate, almost 30,000 potential new officials would be identified by the end of the year – almost double the number from two years ago.

Nothing like a moribund economy to spark interest in alternative revenue streams.

90% will quickly learn how awful our margins are. The other 10% might get hooked and stick around, which would be nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Nothing like a moribund economy to spark interest in alternative revenue streams.

Same thing happened here in Connecticut during the Great Recession of 2008-09. We had to turn away many, many applicants from our local board, we were unprepared to train that large a number. Now we have alternative online training for those who want it for rulebook training. Floor training (mechanics) is still in person.