The Coronavirus and COVID have effected everyday life, making things such as going to the store feel impossible. But how do we practice or even play football during isolation and social distancing? Below I have included what I believe are some safety precautions everyone from High School football players and teams can take all the way up to Professional football players when practicing or playing the game during the COVID outbreak.
1. Everyone wears a mask- This is obvious. COVID is spread by respiratory droplets; wearing a mask should be mandatory for any football player during practices or games.
2. Take every single player’s temperature before playing or practicing and if it is over 100 degrees they will be forbidden from playing or practicing.
3. Stagger practices. Yes this could not be done all the time. But two to three times a week have running backs practice at a complete different time than lineman or quarterbacks. This will do a lot to increase social distancing for a high school football or college team.
4. Everybody has to wear gloves, not just running backs or wide receivers. Linebackers, lineman, everyone has too.
5. More of a high school rule, but one parent per player at games. This will increase social distancing during the game
6. When the offense or defense is on the field all players not involved in that unit should go to a separate part of the stadium instead of remaining on the field.
7. If they can be afforded, Visors on helmets would help with splatter.
8. In Locker Rooms, if possible, have players have at least one locker separating them from the nearest locker. This will help encourage social distancing in the locker room. Another possibility would be to stagger locker room use with the time. Not everybody has to change right after practice. Have some players wait till 12 or 1.
9. It seems intuitive but during warmups make sure there is 10 feet or so between players when they stretch. No players should be located near each other.
10. Again intuitive but watching film should be done virtually when possible on Zoom. Team meetings on Zoom, strategy zoom. An ounce of prevention is the key here.