The OSAA has received many questions seeking clarification as to what’s allowed in football, cheerleading and dance/drill during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Here’s what OSAA announced on its webpage July 23:
The Governor’s Office and Oregon Health Authority (OHA) have classified Football, Cheerleading, and Dance/Drill as full contact and therefore they are prohibited at this time.
However, these sports and activities may continue to follow OSAA Reopening Summer Guidance by phases which allows teams to practice, train, and condition without contact while remaining 6 feet apart and following hygiene protocol set forth by OHA.
Per the Governor’s Office announcement, beginning on July 24 masks are required for all indoors activities, even while exercising, as well as outdoors when people cannot maintain 6 feet of physical distance.
For Cheerleading and Dance/Drill, the OSAA is advocating to the Governor’s Office and OHA to reclassify these activities to the minimal contact category (they are not currently differentiating between sideline and competitive).
We believe these activities can be modified to provide physical distancing with the elimination of stunting and lifting.
These types of modifications are not possible for Football without fundamentally changing the nature of the activity. Until the state guidance for Football is revised or clarified, it remains prohibited.
For Football questions, please contact Brad Garrett at bradg@osaa.org.
For Cheerleading questions, please contact Kelly Foster at kellyf@osaa.org.
For Dance/Drill questions, please contact K.T. Emerson at kte@osaa.org.
For the latest OSAA information regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, please visit: http://www.osaa.org/coronavirus
