Announcement
I know you all have been wondering what is happening with football this fall. Me too. Alberta is still in phase 2 of it’s COVID relaunch plan which provides pretty substantial limits as to what we are allowed to do. There is no known timeline for the start of phase 3.
The Alberta Schools Athletic Association ASAA, which governs school sport in Alberta, has provided some guidance for return to sport for 2020. To read the whole document please feel free to go to www.asaa.ca.
I do not have all the information that I need right now. We know that there are no games for the 2020 fall season. According to the ASAA we are allowed to practice within a 50-person cohort as of Sep 1 but following specific guidelines and based on the approval of our specific schools/divisions. I have a virtual meeting with the rest of the league coaches scheduled for Aug 26. Here we will share ideas with each other on what everyone else is doing this fall. I will need to meet with our coaches to come up with a proposal for the possibility of moving forward with some sort of football practices in the fall. Then this proposal will have to be approved by our School’s Athletic Department, the Principal, and the School Division prior to its implementation.
Here is a synopsis from the ASAA return to sport guidelines which I hope will provide some clarity.
Cohorts of up to 50 people (inclusive of coaches and trainers) are allowed to participate in sport but there will be no mixing of cohorts. This means practices but no games for the 2020 fall season.
Any person who participates in a second cohort (ie hockey, soccer, volleyball) must wait 14 days before switching to a new cohort. This means you will have to pick one sport cohort to belong to and if you want to switch then you must wait 14 days before starting the new cohort.
Any attendees will have to be screened for any health concerns prior to attending any workouts or practices, same as the school protocols.
No sharing of personal equipment ie cleats, gloves, etc. Team equipment will be sanitized after each practice.
There will be no locker rooms so the shack is closed except for trainers’ requirements. You will have to show up for practice changed and ready to go.
Our out of school players. I will need clarification on this and both CCHS’ and the other school’s authorization to accept our Hay Lakes, New Norway, and Forestburg players at any practices at this time.
The University of Alberta Golden Bears in conjunction with Football Alberta will be running an elite program to augment the High School Season. This is designed for the Grade 12 players that are missing the season to showcase their talents and will require tryouts to make it into the program. Successful players will be tiered and put in cohorts. Because the mixing of cohorts are not allowed anybody from our team that attends the U of A program will have to be excluded from our cohort.
There will be more information to follow, so please check the website regularly and sign up for email notifications. Thanks for your continued patience.
Coach
