With the Fall sports season tentatively scheduled to start in early September the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) has released guidelines for how pregame and sports events themselves should be conducted safely in the age of COVID-19. Following is an outline of those procedures.

Pregame

The facilities for teams should be washed and sanitized prior to use and players and coaches should make an effort to wash their hands as much as possible during an event.

Players should also try to social distance during the pregame and the home team will take the field first to warm up, followed by the visitors. Team introductions will also be limited to varsity players who, instead of standing shoulder to shoulder, must stand six feet apart.

Cross Country

Cross country runners are required to wear a facemask when they are not warming up or racing. Coaches must always wear facemasks.

Meets should include fewer schools so that the starting line of a race can be spread out as much as possible with runners shoulder to shoulder instead of in tight groups. The finish line also needs to be wide enough to let racers exit safely.

Football

Masks are required for players during travel and when possible during pregame and postgame. Team personnel and coaches are required to wear masks at all times.

For the coin toss, one captain from each team will come to the center of the field with other designated individuals to observe the toss. There will be no handshakes. The team boxes will be extended to the 10-yard lines for players to encourage social distancing.

The football will be sanitized throughout the game. Players also have the option to wear facemasks during the game but only cloth coverings are allowed. Plastic shields are only allowed if built into the facemask, attached to the helmet and clear without any tint.

Swim

When swimmers arrive to a meet they should arrive as if prepared for practice, as locker room usage will differ from facility to facility. Swimmers should also expect to leave in their suit and shower when home.

Any individual not actively participating in an athletic activity should wear a facemask. Swimmers should be spaced out as much as possible in the pool and its recommend that no more then three swimmers share a lane.

Prior to meets coaches should work together to ensure that everyone is aware of the facility’s rules and regulations. If all rules and regulations cannot be followed using a traditional dual/multi-team meet format, schools should work together to determine alternative options, such as virtual meets (teams compete at their own facilities and then combine results to score), splitting genders into different sessions or days and restricting participants to fewer events or restricting events.

During meets swimmers and coaches should avoid congregating close together either behind the blocks or when giving feedback.

Volleyball

Like other fall sports, athletes are required to wear masks in travel, during pregame and in the postgame, whereas all other individuals must wear mask at all times. Players also have the option to wear a mask during play.

The coin toss to determine who will serve/receive is gone, with the visiting team having the option to serve/receive first in set one and alternate first serve for the remaining of the non-deciding sets. Roster submissions at the pre-match conference are also gone, with rosters being submitted directly to the officials’ table prior to the 10-minute mark. Teams will also not switch benches between sets.

The ball will be sanitized throughout the match and it is recommended schools make use of the five-ball rotation method.

One thing that the AIA stressed for all Fall sports is for individuals to be understanding. These new rules and procedures may slow down game time and will take some getting used to, but AIA holds these measures are in service of keeping students and others safe.