Skip to Content

Not looking promising

YUHSD focuses on safety with Fall sports season in question.

2 days before anyone else began suspending any local sports activities back in early March, the Yuma Union High School District cancelled it's Spring sports and activities for the rest of the school year.

The decision turned out to be a wise one.

Close to 4 months afterwards, the Coronavirus Pandemic has hit the Desert Southwest hard, as high numbers of positive cases continue to be reported on a daily basis.

On a normal year, prep football alone would have been roughly a month away from starting another season; with the other Fall sports starting up not long after the fact.

But, the pandemic still has most area programs on either complete lockdown or in a state where student athletes can only do minimal training exercises at a distance from everyone else.

On Friday, the Arizona Interscholastic Association has outlined a tentative plan for Arizona prep schools to have the option of opening campus for practice on August 17th and the return of athletic competition on the week of September 7th.

But, with so much uncertainty still in place, YUHSD Chief Communication Officer Eric Patten isn't confident that any prep season could start by then or might even get off the ground before the end of 2020.

"Where we are right now, on July 13th, things don't look all that promising for having it up and running full speed ahead August 17th for athletics. And the further we get away from that original start date, the harder it is to fit a full, worthwhile and meaningful schedule of Fall sports." 

Back in June, the AIA implemented a phasing system in an effort to get student athletes back into the process of moving toward the goal of having them ready to compete as soon as possible.

YUHSD implemented phase 1 of that plan on June 15th.

It only lasted 5 days, due to the numbers of positive cases taking a fast jump at the time.

Right now, YUHSD is taking the "wait and see" approach as the month of August is now less than 3 weeks away.

"The first priority for us as a school district is the health and safety of our students. That's something that went into our decision in March. Everybody across the board really sees the value in athletics. In seeing value in students participating in those athletic and extra-curricular opportunities. So, that's definitely something we're taking very serious in trying to figure out the best way to make it happen. But, the first thing we got to consider is the health and safety of our staff and students."

Article Topic Follows: Sports

Jump to comments ↓

Author Profile Photo

Rob Fram

Rob Fram rejoined the KYMA News Team in February 2010.

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KYMA KECY is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

Skip to content