Long post. Preface, I’m not sure of the exact date this will be announced, but it should be announced soon. It will affect all sports in Hamilton county.
Before practice yesterday our athletic director spoke with is about the decision that was made yesterday for Hamilton Co (Chattanooga for those outside of the area). It was decided that sporting events would soon take a step back from phase 3 to phase 2, meaning sporting event attendance would drop from 30% capacity to 20% capacity. For our school, that means we can allow 60 people in our gym for home games. The athletic director also said they’re a good chance cheerleaders “go away” soon for a number of events due to the limited capacity in many gyms.
Is this realistic? Perhaps. However many schools are simply not equip to deal with it, and there will likely be a lot of issues. This year, our school doesn’t have any JV teams, but many do. So having 4 games on a given evening makes it tough numbers wise if parents want to stay in the gym after a contest to watch the next one. Colored bracelets were discussed, but many administrators don’t want to deal with having to kick people out.
Financially, Covid has crippled many sporting programs. School sanctioned fundraising has all but been eliminated, and concessions sales have greatly dipped in comparison to previous years. And now that capacity of these events will be dropping to 20%, it seems likely a lot of concessions will struggle to make any significant profit.
It will be interesting to see what this means for school sports programs moving forward. For us, I know it’s going to require some creative maneuvering. Just thought I’d share what’s about to come down the pike for folks in Hamilton Co.
BTW, this is a Hamilton County decision and NOT a TSSAA policy.
Before practice yesterday our athletic director spoke with is about the decision that was made yesterday for Hamilton Co (Chattanooga for those outside of the area). It was decided that sporting events would soon take a step back from phase 3 to phase 2, meaning sporting event attendance would drop from 30% capacity to 20% capacity. For our school, that means we can allow 60 people in our gym for home games. The athletic director also said they’re a good chance cheerleaders “go away” soon for a number of events due to the limited capacity in many gyms.
Is this realistic? Perhaps. However many schools are simply not equip to deal with it, and there will likely be a lot of issues. This year, our school doesn’t have any JV teams, but many do. So having 4 games on a given evening makes it tough numbers wise if parents want to stay in the gym after a contest to watch the next one. Colored bracelets were discussed, but many administrators don’t want to deal with having to kick people out.
Financially, Covid has crippled many sporting programs. School sanctioned fundraising has all but been eliminated, and concessions sales have greatly dipped in comparison to previous years. And now that capacity of these events will be dropping to 20%, it seems likely a lot of concessions will struggle to make any significant profit.
It will be interesting to see what this means for school sports programs moving forward. For us, I know it’s going to require some creative maneuvering. Just thought I’d share what’s about to come down the pike for folks in Hamilton Co.
BTW, this is a Hamilton County decision and NOT a TSSAA policy.
