By Michelle Price
Special to the UCBJ
Practices, scrimmages and competitions impacted for contact sports this fall
NASHVILLE – When Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order 50 on Monday extending the State of Emergency to August 29, sports fans across the state were hit with mixed emotions. To the delight of many, college and professional sports were exempted from the order. High schools were not.
A statement sent Tuesday morning by TSSAA Executive Director Bernard Childress to member schools regarding the status of high school athletics amidst the Governor’s latest State of Emergency order read:
“Yesterday, the Governor’s office extended Tennessee’s COVID-19 State of Emergency until August 29, 2020. The Governor’s prior order (No. 38) includes limitations and restrictions on contact sporting events and activities.
We are working with the Governor’s office to ensure that our member schools are in compliance with the executive order in regards to athletic participation and contact sports.
While the Governor’s order is in place, member schools cannot have any competition or scrimmage with other schools and cannot have close contact activities during their fundamental practice in the sports of football, 7-on-7 football, girls soccer, wrestling and basketball.
Based on the extension of the Governor’s order, football and girls’ soccer cannot begin their seasons as originally scheduled. We are in the process of developing regular season and postseason options to present to the TSSAA Board of Control for their consideration. The Board will ultimately make the decision as to how this will impact the postseason and if any adjustments can be made to regular season competition.”
