First of all…I hope that you and your family are safe and not directly or indirectly effected by the pandemic that has befallen the world.
I have waited as long as I could to be able to give you any and all information that I might have on the upcoming football season. Right now all I can say is what Commissioner Tackett has told me, and that is…there will be football played in the Fall. Unfortunately to what degree is still unclear. Obviously we will have to see what the Federal and State guidelines propose. I figure that each State may have different guidelines that correspond with the way each State is progressing with flatten the curve and getting back to whatever the new “normal” may be for the near future. From the CDC, (May 19, 2020 in referring to its Consideration for Schools) all schools should remember that, “Implementation should be guided by what is feasible, practical, acceptable, and tailored to the needs of each community.”
I have to proceed as if the regular season will be played as it has been in the past. Meaning that I have been putting the schedules in Arbiter as if nothing is wrong. I may have to retool all of this, but I am trying to be optimistic.
With the current restrictions here is what I am proposing to the CKFOA Board.
My annual Summer Clinic scheduled for June 13 and June 24 will be canceled due to the restriction “No gathering of more than 10 people at a time (inside or outside) prior to June 29”. What I may have is a video that will be posted on our website.
REGULAR SEASON MEETING DATES:
Our first regular season meeting date is scheduled for July 20, 2020. Hopefully restrictions will be lowered by then and allows us to meet as a group, but if not we will be setting up a virtual meeting using one of the many formats available. Unfortunately one of the issues that we will face is the lack of facilities to host our meetings, as most if not ALL schools will not be available to us due to the threat of the virus and the subsequent cost of time and money to safely clean any venue that we may use. I will be getting with the CKFOA Board to plan for all of our meeting this season to be a virtual meeting with the exception of 2 meetings that will be on field or some other outside venue where we can break out into groups and prepare ourselves for the upcoming season. If circumstances change that allow us to meet in person, we can amend our plan. Hopefully this will be the case. The regular season meetings dates are:
July 20, 27
August 3, 10, 17
September 1, 23
October 14
November 2
CURRENT GUIDELINES PERTAINING TO FOOTBALL AT KHSAA MEMBER HIGH SCHOOLS AND AFFILIATED MIDDLE SCHOOLS. UNLESS FURTHER ALTERED BY THE GOVERNOR.
Segment 2: June 15 to June 28
NOTES
In football, no rules specified protective gear (helmets, shoulder pads, extra required gear) may be provided to student athletes.
Additional guidance and accommodation for competition in all sports and sport-activities is forthcoming
Additional Guidance for Football practices beginning June 15 will be forthcoming
Segment 3: June 29 to July 12
NOTES
For football, a player should not participate in drills with a single ball that will be handed off or passed to other teammates. Contact with other players is not allowed, and there should be no use of tackling dummies / donuts / sleds
In football, no rules specified protective gear (helmets, shoulder pads, extra required gear) may be provided to student athletes.
Additional guidance and accommodation for competition in all sports and sport-activities is forthcoming
Additional Guidance for Football practices beginning June 29 will be forthcoming
Segment 4: July 13 to July 31
NOTES
TBD
Now you know as much as I do. These are difficult times for all of us. Some or many of you may be experiencing some financial issues with your job, and I pray that you and your families are able to function in some sense of normalcy. Unfortunately until a vaccine is produced or the “Herd Immunity” is achieved the ones of us that fall into any of the vulnerable categories…these difficult times my linger well into the next year. Especially if there is a reoccurrence of the virus in the Fall.
I don’t intend to push my beliefs upon you, but each night before bed I recite The Lord’s Prayer in hopes that this evil that has befallen us will be lifted and through this we will all become better people. We never know what the future holds for any of us, but I pray that each of you and your families be protected and safe.
THINGS I NEED FROM EACH OF YOU.
- I am going to send out a test email today from my Gmail account. If you do not receive the email I need to know, because my Group Email is setup with Google and this may be one of the formats that we use for our virtual meeting.
- If you have decided that you are not going to officiate this season….please drop me an email or text so I can amend the roster.
- I am going to send out a post on Facebook for recruiting purposes. If we are friends on Facebook feel free to share. It would be an excellent recruiting tool for each of you to post through whatever social media method you use to communicate about football officiating. If you do this feel free to add my contact information.
- Please update, if necessary, your contact information in Arbiter and also the KHSAA website. Arbiter mostly for me, but the KHSAA for post season assignments that go through Arbiter.
- Please use an email address that you check regularly. I always try to text or call in an emergency, but checking your email is still important with using Arbiter.
There will be more information to follow as I am meeting (virtually) with the CKFOA Board tomorrow to discuss some of our options. Again I pray that each of you and your families will be safe from harm.
Keith