COLUMBUS, Ohio — The future of high school fall sports in Ohio is pending a decision from Gov. Mike DeWine, which he said he’ll be announcing Tuesday.
DeWine and his team have been working with the Ohio High School Athletic Association to create guidelines to make fall sports, especially contact sports such as football, as safe as possible for student-athletes.
The state is still ironing out the details of the plan for fall sports and plans to discuss options with coaches across the state in the coming days, DeWine said.
Guidance is expected to cover what athletes will need to do to not only stay safe while practicing and competing, but also how to stay safe while off the field.
DeWine hopes discussing possible guidance with coaches will help them lead their student athletes to following best practices on and off the field.
The governor hinted that the guidance to be announced on Tuesday will ultimately leave the final decision to the parents and school districts.
"This is a decision is going to be made by our parents," DeWine said. "It’s gonna be a decision that’s gonna be made by schools. They’re going to make those decisions."
DeWine also said that fans able to attend fall sporting events will be restricted but the goal is to allow parents and guardians to attend the competitions.
"We want the athletes to compete. We want the young people to have their season, but we want to do it as safely as possible,” DeWine said. “And so this will be a little disruptive for some people, but what we want to make sure is that the parents, people who mean a lot to that particular child have the opportunity to see them. And then for the rest of us — we’ll have to hear about the game or maybe we can pick it up on the internet, YouTube, but it's about the kids.”
If DeWine does approve football to resume this fall, OHSAA has already voted on and outlined a plan for the season.
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