Contact practice begins for Ohio sports, but some coaches say they’ll wait
COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Contact practice can begin again for sports such as football and basketball in Ohio.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted made the announcement last Thursday at a statehouse coronavirus briefing.
Sports like football, basketball, lacrosse, and other contact sports can resume full training regimens including scrimmages starting today.
This means for sports like basketball they can run full 5-on-5 game-style practices.
Athletic directors and coaches, like Upper Arlington women’s basketball coach Chris Savage, said they’re going to practice the social distancing way at least for the next couple of weeks.
“Ultimately the most important thing is to keep our girls safe,” Savage said. “We love being in the gym, but their safety is way more important than them getting shots off. I like the fact that we’re doing still work right now.”
Savage’s team will focus on the basics like ball handling and shooting with limited players on the court.
“We don’t have to do competition 5-on-5 for us to improve our individual games right now,” said Savage.
It’s a thought shared with other coaches around central Ohio.
“Really, what we’re working toward is getting our kids issued helmets and starting a full day of camp actually on July 13,” said Mark Solis, the head coach at Olentangy High School.
He said for his team, they will continue to follow the protocols they have in place, but there is one issue they’re having under the COVID guidelines.
“The one thing we have not be able to do is get into the weight room in,” said Solis. “That’s been a little frustrating.”
Frustrating but understandable, he added there is no room for error when it comes to these students and this pandemic.
“In this situation, you don’t ask for forgiveness. You got to make sure you do it right from the beginning,” said Solis.
Many of these coaches said they do not want to rush back to the competitive practice because there’s still a lot unknown about COVID-19.