Football and other sports prohibited from competing

Kate Schreiber and Olivia Silvey| September 9, 2020

High and moderate frequency contact sports such as football are currently not allowed to compete.

Football, soccer and other high and moderate frequency contact sports will not see competition for the near future. Student-athletes 14 years and older playing high and moderate frequency contact sports will not be able to compete in games of any kind, announced St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page at a press conference Wednesday morning. The guidelines will allow practices to continue for all contact levels. Low frequency contact sports such as running and golf will be able to compete with the exception of tournaments and bracket-style play. Players below the age of 14 will be allowed to participate in moderate frequency contact competitions as well as practices.

No spectators are permitted across the board. These guidelines will go into effect Sept. 11 and are available in full on the St. Louis County website. Schools will have until Sept. 17 to decide whether or not they want to move their fall sports season to spring. Many states, including Illinois, have already moved certain fall sports to the spring of 2021. This decision came with an announcement from the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) and simultaneous new guidelines on sports from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker in late July.

While there will be no games or tournaments, high frequency contact sports can still practice in groups of no more than 30 student-athletes with two coaches present. Scrimmages within teams will be permitted. Moderate frequency contact sports can have full team practices (no limit of number of coaches or participants) with restrictions. The guidelines also continue to emphasize safety procedures, such as mandatory mask-wearing at all times except during vigorous physical activity, sanitizing equipment and pre-practice screenings.

Page also said during the press conference that evidence supports that elementary school students could return to in-person learning, but will leave the decision up to districts. However, he said that the St. Louis County Department of Public Health does not yet recommended that middle and high school students return to in-person learning.

According to the Kirkwood School District (KSD) website, as of Wednesday, Sept. 9, there have been 44 positive COVID-19 cases or exposures to a person who has tested positive reported to KSD, not all of which were students or staff on-campus.