Jonathan Alder head football coach Brett Glass glances at his play sheets during a 2019 game. High school coaches in Ohio are determining how to proceed with training sessions while in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Football is among the high school contact-related sports that are permitted to begin training sessions this week.
Local gridiron programs were allowed into weight rooms, beginning on Tuesday, as long as coaches and administrators had figured out a way to social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jonathan Alder football coach Brett Glass is happy teams can return to conditioning.
The Pioneers, however, aren’t quite ready to do that.
“We’re waiting to hear about guidelines from our school district and local health officials before we open the weight room,” the coach told the Journal-Tribune on Tuesday.
“That’s going to be hard to tell when it will happen,” said Glass, who guided the Pioneers to the Division II regional championship game in 2019. “Some of the guidelines that Governor (Mike) DeWine and the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) have given us are a little different.”
Glass said the OHSAA is following the mandates that have been established by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
“Those guidelines have things opening in three different phases,” said Glass.
Phase 1 entails working with smaller groups (6-10 athletes).
The second phase permits 50 athletes, still in small groups, while the third phase allows entire teams, but still with no contact and distancing limits.
“From what I understand, each phase will go on for approximately two weeks,” said Glass. “However, that could all depend on whether we see any new coronavirus spikes.”
The Pioneer coach said he doesn’t think his team will fall behind schedule because of the phase mandates.
“Every other football team in the state will have to follow these guidelines,” he said. “We all have to follow them in order not to put anyone at risk.
“We know we’re going to have to run our 60 guys (grades 9-12) through the weight room in shifts and we’re going to have to sanitize each workout station after each guy finishes.”
While Glass is waiting on specific guidelines for weight room usage, he’s also wondering what the 2020 preseason and beyond could look like and how the sport will progress.
“I’ve got some different plans in my head on how we could do things moving ahead,” he said. “However, it’s tough to plan because it’s too early to tell how this will play out.”
The Pioneers have scheduled seven-on-seven passing scrimmages in late July at neighboring Fairbanks and also against Hilliard Darby and Columbus St. Charles.
Whether those activities will go on as planned remains to be seen.
“I think a lot of it will depend on what school classes and re-openings look like for 2020-21,” said Glass, who is a science instructor at Jonathan Alder High School.
“We are just going to have to be patient,” he said.