“It’s going be a challenge all the way around but we’re gonna pull it off,” said Dr. Tom Stewart, the Director of Athletics for the Rush-Henrietta school district.  

Low-risk fall sports include soccer, swimming, gymnastics, golf and cross-country. Student-athletes in Monroe County will begin their shortened season next Monday and that’s to make sure all districts have been open for at least two full weeks and executing their safety plans before throwing another variable into the mix.

When sports do get going, all athletes and coaches will be screened before practice and games.

“Kids have to be screened when they come to school but the kids that are not in school may not necessarily go through that same process,” Dr. Stewart explained.  

Practices will mostly be in small groups and if not directly playing in a game, athletes and coaches on the sidelines will be wearing masks.

Athletes will only be allowed two spectators. Stadiums are being roped off for socially-distanced seating and be ready to provide your personal information, “the management of it is going to require more personnel, we are going to have to check people in when they get to a game so that we can do contact tracing if we needed to,” Dr. Stewart said.

As for how many games they’ll be trying to get in this season, “our first game starts Oct. 10 and now the last game is Nov. 7, right around that time frame so, it’s definitely shorter… it’s 10 games and we normally play 16 games but sectionals is still on the table so, we’re trying to figure out how postseason play is going to work,” Dr. Stewart explained.