Tuesday, November 17, 2020 - 4:27 pm
MHS sports programs practices and training sessions are on hold after two recent orders.
The MHS athletic department announced that strength and conditioning programs along with all low-risk sports practices were suspended effective on Nov. 17 due to Public Health Madison Dane County's new order issued on Tuesday.
Emergency Order #10 prohibits indoor gatherings of any size and permits outdoor gatherings with 10 or fewer people, provided physical distancing is enforced. The order goes into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 18. PHMDC considers games, sports, competitions, group exercise classes and training to be among those events considered mass gatherings. Indoor mass gatherings of any people who do not live together are prohibited, PHMDC announced.
The order is in effect through at least Dec. 15.
As a result of PHMDC Order #10, MCPASD will be suspending all in-person sports and activities until further notice. This includes our strength and conditioning training and low-risk winter sports practices listed below:
- Gymnastics
- Skiing
- Snowboarding
- Boys swimming and diving
The athletic department will continue to work with MHS coaches on their safety plans and be ready to allow practices and training sessions should the order not be extended beyond Dec. 15.
"In the meantime, let's all do our part to limit the spread of COVID-19 by wearing a face mask, practicing physical distancing and washing your hands often and practicing good hand hygiene,'' MHS athletic director Jamie Sims said.
Meanwhile, the athletic department announced last week that medium- and high-risk winter sports were on hold after Governor Evers urged state residents to follow safety precautions and to stay at home as much as possible to stop the spread of COVID-19.
While Governor Evers’ message did not specifically address schools, Big Eight Conference athletic directors decided to put a hold on medium- and high-risk winter sports out of an abundance of caution.
"At this time, we collectively feel that in order to do our part with preventing the spread of COVID-19 that we must put our student-athletes and adults in the safest and best situations possible,'' Sims said. "Though we have developed what we feel to be strong safety plans to support our current state with in-person sports and activities, we also know that moving forward with only low risk sports ensures we are appropriately supporting our state’s and county’s efforts at decreasing the spread of the virus at this time.'' Big Eight athletic directors will continue to collaborate to determine when would be the best and safest time to start up with these programs, Sims said.
Winter sports that fall into the medium and high risk categories for winter sports include:
- Boys & Girls Basketball
- Boys & Girls Hockey
- Wrestling
- Dance team
- Cheerleading
Winter sports that fall into the low risk categories for winter sports include:
- Gymnastics
- Boys Swimming & Dive
- Boys & Girls Skiing
- Boys & Girls Snowboarding
MHS also plans to not allow out-of-season coaching contact days as of Nov. 16. The current outdoor strength and conditioning program was scheduled to end on Nov. 24. The plan is to allow coaching contact days for low risk out-of-season sports and strength and conditioning programs to resume in January 2021, provided PHMDC Order #10 has been lifted.
Sports that fall into the low risk categories for out-of-season sports are as follows:
- Boys & Girls Golf
- Boys & Girls Tennis
- Girls Swim & Dive
- Boys & Girls Cross County
- Boys & Girls Track & Field