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MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Columbia’s fall student athletes have been allowed to begin official practices with coronavirus protections in place. Over 500 kids have been cleared to play or try out for sports this fall.
The modified sports schedule will have four seasons unlike the traditional three (fall, winter, spring). Football, field hockey, cheerleading, girls tennis, boys and girls cross-country and boys and girls soccer will all be played this fall with extra precautions put in place by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). Volleyball, normally played in the fall, has been moved to season three in 2021.
All the schools in CHS’s Super Essex Conference are expected to participate in sports this fall. The nine game football season has been shortened to six games. According to SOMSD Interim Athletic Director Ken Mullen, the schedule has been set so that CHS will be playing games closer to home.
“The less time the team has to spend on a bus the better,” said Mullen. “West Orange is better than Morristown.”
The new NJSIAA rules include mandatory masks for all referees, coaches and athletes on the sidelines. Athletes in competition are the only ones exempt. All shared equipment will be wiped down at the end of each practice or game. Athletes will be required to bring all their own water bottles. In order to maintain social distancing, the two teams will have more sideline space during football games.
The district has decided that all students will be temperature checked before each practice. Should a student have a temperature of 100.4 or higher the district will begin the proper reporting protocol and the student will have to be cleared by the district school’s doctor to return to play, said Mullen.
SOMSD has not determined a safety protocol for the locker rooms yet, and until then Mullen says they will remain closed. To make up for sports having begun a month later than normal this year they have been extended to end in June rather than May.
A full schedule of all the games this semester can be found on the district website.
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