First day of fall sports tryouts kick off with plenty of precautions

SPRINGFIELD — After the Ohio High School Athletic Association gave the green light for fall sports to start practices last week, local teams wasted no time getting to work at the first day of tryouts on Monday – but these tryouts look different than they ever have before.

Springfield High School Head Volleyball Coach, Samantha Morell, told News Center 7′s Jenna Lawson that at each break, all of the girls at the tryouts must shag the loose balls, sanitize their hands and then get their own water bottles, in that order.

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“It’s just repetition, telling them again and again what they have to do,” she said.

Coaches also wear masks during practices. Athletes wear them to and from practice.

Once tryouts have concluded and a solid team is set, Morell said she will also be scheduling practices so they don’t overlap with one another. There will be a two-hour block of time for each of the high school’s three volleyball teams.

According to the OHSAA and Gov. DeWine’s office, all fall sports can practice – but not all have been cleared to have scrimmages or games.

Low to no-contact sports like volleyball, golf and tennis are permitted to move forward with scheduling scrimmages, and for that – Morell said she’s grateful.

Springfield will have a conference-only schedule, which means the season will be shorter than normal but Morell said the team is happy to have a season at all.

“They love being out here playing. They were a little nervous themselves that they weren’t going to have a season,” she said.

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At this point, the school district does have plans to send students physically back to school in the fall – offering online options for those that feel uncomfortable.

Morell said they may have to adjust the season if that were to change.

The OHSAA released a statement last week that said in part, “It is important to keep athletic activity moving forward….And with that, we believe our member schools provide our student-athletes with the safest possible environment to return to play.”

The athletic association also said that if fall sports should start, have to stop and then restart again, the OHSAA would follow a modified fall sports schedule – although details on what that would look like have not been released yet.

Cox Media Group