As every high school athlete in the state of Kentucky knows, there will be fall sports this season. On August 20th there was a zoom meeting that included the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) board members. So how will that affect high schools?  It means that there will be Friday night football games, girls and boys soccer games, competitive cheer and dance will be able to start regular practices, cross country, and field hockey will also be able to start practice and play. Many parents and players are happy since the spring sports 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. 

On August 20th, there was a big KHSAA board meeting and they all voted to let fall sports start regular full-contact practices. The voting was 16 votes yes and 2 votes on no. This will be the first time that there will be high school sports since spring when the COVID-19 pandemic first started. Kentucky’s governor Andy Beshear and the Kentucky board of education have approved the decision made by the KHSAA board and they will move forward to start the upcoming fall sports season.  After the meeting, the KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett said, “Our board, composed of personal and community leaders, feels much more comfortable managing the efforts of our students with athletics under the supervision of our trained coaches to those in other leagues and levels. Even this summer, Parents and students have proven that play in sports will go on even during a pandemic.” Most of the fall sports had summer workouts and they were all doing fine and meeting all the restrictions. 

  The first week of games for every sport besides football is set for the week of September 7th and the football games/season will start on September 11th. There could only be 7.5 hours of practice each week during the day.  All the postseason playoff dates have been pushed back because of the delayed start to the 2020 fall sports season and the number of games for each sport has been limited. The limitations include cross country and football each with 9 games, soccer has been limited to 14, field hockey has 16 games, and volleyball has 24 according to the KHSAA website.

With the start of the delayed season right around the corner, most of the fall sports teams have started full contact practice hoping to be ready for the first games of the season. So I interviewed freshman football linemen Lucas McCarty and he said that the football colonels are definitely ready for the season to start, he said that this year they have a big chance to do big things. I also asked him if they have had any full-contact practice with like pads and he told me that they started full contact last week, and the last question was when was the first game and if he was excited about it and he said that the first game is Friday, September 7th and not only him but the whole colonel football team is excited and ready to do big things this season for football.  Now all fall sports will be playing this season, but there are some restrictions such as limited audience, the temperature will be taken before entering the game, a facial covering will be required at all times during the game, and the school district can decide whether to have a concession stand or not. The first games of the season will be on Friday, September 11th for football and every other fall sports will start their season the week of September 7th and all of the fall sports teams will definitely be ready and excited.