Tennessee school football groups may be allowed to practice on mats on Thursday and the season can now begin on time.
Governor Bill Lee’s workplace announced Tuesday that he had issued Executive Order No. 55 authorizing the resumption of contact sports. Gillum Ferguson, his press secretary, said it will be signed and published Thursday on the Secretary of State’s website.
The ordinance allows TSSAA women’s soccer and soccer groups to begin education with full contact, following the organization’s rules established on July 22. Teams can begin education after the order is signed, as long as they also have permission from their local governments and school districts.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” said South-Doyle football coach Clark Duncan.
Women’s football and football could not be exercised with the touch according to a decree issued through Lee that lasted until August 29 due to COVID-19.
There will be no adjustments to the 2020 football calendar. The football emergency plan followed by TSSAA’s Board of Supervisors last week stated that if the touch practice can resume by August 4, no festivals would be postponed.
This leaves the date of the first contests for August 21 with state championships from December 3 to 5 in Cookeville.
The date of the first women’s football festival remains the scheduled date for August 17, with the state championships from October 28 to 31 in Murfreesboro.
Football groups were allowed to begin heat acclimatization on July 20. Each athlete will have to acclimatize to the total heat (two days of helmets only, 3 days of helmets and shoulder pads) before education in the entire team.
“When you’re a competitor, you want to see anything,” Ravenwood football coach Matt Daniels said. “You want a competition. Before today, things were paralyzed. We thought we’d wait until September 18th to play. Now we have a chance to start on time.”
“We know we have a date, which is in over a month. This contributes to the motivating factor.”
Michael Stroup, coach at Jackson University, added: “I’m excited. In football, you can’t do much in contactless training. You can’t go too far opposite the air before it becomes monotonous. Having that and knowing that we can have a season, not a short season, gives us hope”.
“I think we’re all a little surprised and excited,” Said Hardin Valley football coach Jessica Stephens. “Women texted and asked, “What does this mean? What does that mean? And you had to tell them that you were still sure (of what that meant). But I know that for older people it means a lot to them.
County and city directors may also have something to say at launch through their respective touch training groups that can pass approval from the governor and TSSAA.
“I don’t know if our school formula will have to give us permission first, and I don’t know how that will translate into our ability to use our locker rooms, but those things will work out,” said West Creek football coach James Figueroa. : “I think as apprentices, we just needed to know when the season is going to start. We have it now and we’ll adapt to everything else.”
While many players, coaches and enthusiasts across the state were thrilled with the news, everyone thinks the resolution is the best.
“I am satisfied by the children. But there are simply a lot of hurdlees to overcome,” said Thomas McDaniel, Christian Brothers football coach and president of the Tennessee Football Coaches Association. “When you look at the numbers and what’s going on with the majors, I’m scratching my head right now.”
Many groups plan to start with full platelet touch workouts until Monday. Others will be initiated as soon as they get the go-ahead.
“We were pleased to hear the newsArray … what coach is not excited,” said Rockvale coach Rick Rice, who will start his team as soon as possible. “This is all we wanted to hear. We want the kids to go back to school and go back to school. We have to do it at a level, that’s the first and most important thing. But we want some kind of normalcy.”
“When we go back to PracticeArray … it will be another energy point.”
TSSAA protection regulations come with the mask required for event enthusiasts, controlled temperatures for the fan entering a facility and without scrums or jamborees.
“Children across the state depend on us, school principals and coaches, to conduct education and skills safely, while paying close attention to the needs and adjustments we have implemented,” said TSSAA CHIEF Executive Bernard Childress. “Our return to the game is an association, and it’s vital that everyone do their part.”
Tom Kreager, George Robinson, Michael Odom and Aaron Torres contributed to this report.