No high school football games this fall
Posted Aug 13, 2020 12:59:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There will be no high school football games this fall.
Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation (NSSAF) executive director, Stephen Gallant, said the decision was made after consulting with the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Strang.
Currently, no more than 10 people are allowed to gather without physical distancing
“To have a football game, the number would have to exceed 100, so getting from 10 to 100 in the next two weeks didn't seem plausible,” Gallant explained. “Our football training camps were supposed to open next Monday.”
“We needed to make a decision regarding football now, so we really don't have a choice.”
Schools with football programs will be able to hold practices to develop skills between Sept. 14 and Oct. 9, as long a public safety guidelines are followed. The NSSAF said a decision on a potential spring season will be made in February.
The head coach of Dartmouth High School's football team says he understands the need to put safety first, but he's still a little surprised by the announcement.
“The province that has the least amount of COVID cases is also the furthest behind in returning to sport,” Lou Velocci said. “I understand why the NSSAF did this because they're trying to get kids back to school and really the focus is on student athletes, so we have to make sure that students are first.
“But I think there are ways we could have actually brought kids back to school and done some football in the meantime, even though it may be modified.”
Velocci said coaches, associations, high schools and regulating bodies were willing to work tirelessly to come up with a plan to get kids back on the field in a safe manner.
“It's just not a priority right now for the province,” he said.
“It's a real shame when you take student athletes and say 'we're taking away the thing that drives you the most,' because a lot of those student athletes are there because of athletics,” Velocci added.
Gallant said conversations continue on potential modifications that could be made to get other school sports up and running when classes return next month.
“We're trying to see what the possibilities are and we will announce … prior to the start of school exactly what we're going to be able to do and what alterations we would have of those sports,” Gallant said. “No final decision has been made on any other sport.”
“We're hopeful, if the parametres allow us and the adaptations are sufficient, that we can have kids playing school sports. That's our goal.”
