Alaska high school athletes and students may be afforded the opportunity to participate in organized, sanctioned workouts and conditioning sessions as June 1st as the Alaska School Activities Association revises the state policies on Out of Season and Open Facilities.
Phase Three and Four additions to the Alaska State Mandate #16 allow for the opening of facilities, and the gathering of larger numbers in group activities, all while observing social distancing, state and local guidelines.
ASAA, the governing body for Alaska’s school extra-curricular activities, has released updated details of the revised policies.
ASAA Recommendations For Returning To Activities
From the ASAA guidelines found at asaa.org…
Working with various school districts, ASAA has designed recommendations for restarting activities using the Smart Start 2020 format. Currently these recommendations are for the summer from June 1st to July 31st. We will begin developing a similar document for restarting activities during the regular season.
• ASAA Return To Activities Protocol – Updated 5/31/20
• ASAA Return to Activities Protocol (Template) – Updated 5/31/20
• COVID-19 Monitoring Form (Sample)
Additional resources for developing mitigation plans can be found on the State of Alaska Covid-19 website under Reopen Alaska Responsibly.
• Gyms, Fitness Centers, Sports, and Recreational Facilities (Attachment K)
• Organized Sports, Activities, and Guided Recreation (Attachment U)
Both the Out of Season and Open Facility policies have been amended.
Statement from ASAA…
The ASAA “out of season” contact and “open facility” policies typically do allow for coaches to work with students year around on a limited bases for purposes of conditioning and individual instruction. Typically, the “out of season” contact restrictions are suspended each year from May 20 to July 31. As ASAA wants to bring these policies into alignment with both Local and State of Alaska Health Mandates, This is no longer the case!
For the Spring of 2020 this policy will go into effect on June 1, 2020. However, coaches must have the approval of their school district and operate any activities in accordance with all local and state health mandates. The updated policies can be found at the following link with the major changes shown in red:
