Fall WHS sports set to begin with modifications

Fall sports are ready to take the field, but things are going to look a little different this fall.

The Montana High School Association confirmed last week that fall sports will happen, though specific requirements will be in place for teams.

Whitefish High School Athletic Director Aric Harris said everything is coming together for Bulldogs sports, though there are plenty of challenges ahead.

“We’re ready to start up on time. With the MHSA and all the work they put together, that’s allowing us to start on time and be safe. We’re willing to do anything to get back and play and compete,” he said. “Every individual sport has very specific processes and procedures that will be implemented and followed. Some of the difficulties we’re looking at are the various processes for each sport. It gets really detailed.”

For football, volleyball, cross country and soccer, practice will start on time on Aug. 14, with the earliest games coming by Aug. 27.

Golf competition begins Aug. 15.

For teams this fall, the MSHA is requiring that practices be conducted in “pods” or “bubbles” of participants to limit exposure, that timeouts be increased to two minutes so athletes can better hydrate, and that administrators limit nonessential personnel on the field.

Events, with exceptions in cross country and golf, cannot be multi-event, meaning students can only participate in one sport in the season.

All sports are listed by MHSA as Tier 1, which they are set to start on time and as close to the original schedule as possible, with masks required per the Governor’s directive.

For golf specifically, dual meets are recommended and encouraged over multi-team events. If multi-team events happen, there must be no practice round, there must be shotgun starts with a maximum of 90 players on an 18-hold course and 45 players on a 9-hole course. Teams will play together by school, and all teams will access their starting tee via different ports of entry.

The same goes for cross country in regards to dual meets versus multi-team events.

For multi-team events, there can be no more than 200 participants, teams must stay in their own staging area, there can be no more than 25 runners at the start line, and the next runners up will be in a corral before they start. Runners must wear masks in their team staging area, corral and until they are called to the starting line, and once the race is over they must immediately return to the bus.

Harris said in the event that the pandemic forces another round of closures, there are plans in place to adapt.

“We have worked out a tiered approach in case things get worse, but hopefully they get better,” he said. “It all depends on our work with the Flathead County Health Department and our local administration.”

In other activities, All-State band, choir and orchestra music festival in October has been canceled due to high risk of transmission and will not be rescheduled during the school year.

While it’s a complicated start to the school year, Harris said he’s just happy to see some slight sense of normal returning to the school.

“We’re just excited to get back to it. I think our kids really need this, and need to get back to some sense of normal,” he said. “I really commend our student athletes, parents and coaches as we navigate through this. It was really tough to not have a spring season. To get back and do summer workouts, I think it was absolutely what everybody needed.”