OSSAA’s David Jackson Says Fall Sports Still on as Scheduled

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  • OSSAA’s David Jackson Says Fall Sports Still on as Scheduled
    OSSAA’s David Jackson Says Fall Sports Still on as Scheduled
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OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) executive director David Jackson spoke on July 23 during a Zoom meeting with reporters regarding the current state of Oklahoma high school sports and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to high school sports reporter Nick Sardis of The Oklahoman, Jackson assured that high school sports are to go on as regularly scheduled this fall.

However, Jackson said individual school districts will have the power to make decisions on several issues related to handling the coronavirus when an athlete tests positive.

“I think schools are going to be opening in lots of different scenarios, where some will be totally virtual,” Jackson said last Thursday. “Some are bringing kids back to the campus 100% and some are using a hybrid model, using both virtual and person-to-person instruction. So, we’re going to leave the decision to participate in activities up to that school because they’re going to be so different across the state in what their formats are going to look like.”

As for having fans in the stands at home games, Jackson and the OSSAA will also let the school districts decide their own protocol up until the playoffs.

“During the regular season, that is going to be a local-control issue,” Jackson said. “That local district is going to make that call. Once we get to the postseason, when we take over the management of those games, we hope -- all I can tell you is we will hope -- to have fans at our games.”

Jackson said that if the COVID-19 situation gets serious enough in Oklahoma that fall sports and activities need to be postponed and pushed back, condensed seasons would be scheduled for all sports without having them overlap.

“The initial thought for us is that we would play condensed seasons for our fall, winter, and spring sports,” Jackson said. “We’d have to decide on the length of those seasons. They could be eight-week seasons, possibly 10-week seasons, for each of the fall, winter, and spring sports. That would take us through June.”

A full 2020 OSSAA Guidelines for Returning to Participation document, which was updated on July 27, can be viewed and downloaded on the official OSSAA website.

Andrew Salmi can be reached at Sports@TheGearyStar.com