KSHSAA moving forward with fall sports but ready for change

TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – As restrictions come down to coronavirus, local sports are looking to keep their seasons alive. KSHSAA plans to move forward with the fall sports season despite rumors on social media indicating otherwise.

“That rumor is totally not accurate,” KSHSAA executive director Bill Faflick said. “Unfortunately someone was pretty irresponsible with social media.”

KSHSAA remains focused on preparing for the fall season.

“Our efforts right now are directed at equipping our member schools with considerations as they get ready to go on August 17th,” Faflick said. “We still have seven weeks to go until we get the opportunity to see kids.”

On Friday, Kansas begins its mask mandate and many are wondering how that will impact high school sports.

“With the governor’s masking order we are looking forward to that detail being provided tomorrow (Thursday). We have a number of schools that have contacted us for additional clarification and we hesitate to do much clarification when we haven’t seen that written order yet,” Faflick said.

With the mask mandate coming, we could see more visors on the football field this fall.

“Visors that you’ve seen players wear before do not cover obviously the mouth and the droplet issue,” KSHSAA assistant executive director Mark Lentz said. “There is a new face splash, it’s kind of called a splash guard by Schutt.”

A newly developed visor that’s been approved by the National Federation.

“There’s not a lot of medical evidence yet this will work or not but it is a clear covering that would basically cover the mouth area and the eye area,” Lentz said.

“One of the things that is important is that they do not restrict breathing for student athlete,” Faflick said.

In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has proposed the state flip its fall and spring sports seasons around as spring sports generally allow for better social distancing.

“While we’ve looked at that at this point as of July 1st of 2020 that does not seem to be a direction we want to go,” Faflick said.

KSHSAA said its current plans are adaptable and they will be able to accommodate potential changes.