The fall sports and activities season is upon us as kids begin to go back to school for another year. Last week, the South Dakota High School Activities Association announced their plan to begin fall sports and activities in a somewhat normal layout.
The term normal doesn’t mean it’ll be a complete free for all, but it does mean certain restrictions and policies that were used last year, won’t be to start this fall.
“Last year we divided sports up into low, moderate, and high-risk categories, and we had recommendations, mandatory changes, optional changes, and playing rule changes based on those categories. Those categories are gone,” said Dan Swartos, South Dakota High School Activities Association executive director.
Mask mandates and contact tracing will remain as local policies. Each individual school district will develop their own policy when it comes to close contact cases and if masks should be worn or not. Additionally, any coach or player who tests positive will adhere to South Dakota Department of Health and isolate for ten days.
While some aspects of this fall might feel slightly more normal than last year, the high school activities association will still enforce protocols with ‘return to play’ for positive cases.
If the student-athlete is asymptomatic or experiencing mild illness, they’ll have to check in with a clinician, have cardiac testing, avoid exercise for three-five days from day of positive test, and individualized exercise progression, based on symptoms. A SDHSAA return to play form will also have to be filled out, and the school will monitor the student-athlete for additional cardio symptoms.
For moderate infections, a medical evaluation, which consists of ECG, Echo, and Troponin, is recommended before return to exercise progression. Also, no exercise from five to seven days from time of the positive test, and they must have moderate symptoms resolved prior to starting individualized progression. From there, if medical evaluation was normal, a return to play form must be filled out and continued monitoring of cardio symptoms. If medical evaluation was abnormal, the student must consult with a Cardiologist before returning to any form of exercise.
In the event of a severe illness or hospitalization, a student must undergo comprehensive medical evaluation, with recommendation of a cardiology consult, before they can return to any form of exercise.
“Essentially what we did this year is we took a joint document from the NFHS and the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine – the same people who gave us the guidance for last year. What we have here is essentially a carbon copy of what they put out,” explained Swartos. “Those are the experts in the field to us and that’s what we’re going to work with.”
Swartos also mentioned that he’s had numerous conversations with other high school activities associations in the area, and that most of their plans will look similar to South Dakota’s.
“If we get into the year and we get a huge spike, and we need to bring back some of those rule modifications, there’s nothing saying that we can’t. We’re all just waiting to see what happens with this as we bring kids back into the school, and what kind of rises in cases that we get from that,” Swartos stated. “I think it’s a little bit different from last year, but it’s still something we need to keep our eye on.”
High school soccer, girls tennis, and boys golf (AA and A) have already begun their competitive seasons, while high school football for all three nine-man classes and 11B starts this Friday in South Dakota. The remaining three classes of football and cross-country will begin action the following week.
