07/14/20- Healthy at Sports Position Statement

July 14, 2020 2020-2021 News Releases

As announcements are made across the country regarding the return to athletics or specific sports, our office will continue to be informed but not necessarily controlled or bound by decisions from other levels of play, as well as other state associations. This is a very fluid situation, and Kentucky data and discussions need to drive Kentucky decisions for the betterment of all involved in high school sports and sport-activities, as well as middle schools. Like most others, we are constantly receiving updated information from around the state and nation during this very dynamic period.

Our decisions in developing a Healthy at Sports timeline will continue to be made with the following primary goals and objectives in mind:

• To always keep participant safety and risk minimization as a top priority;
• To avoid a delay in the start of school and in-person learning;
• To recognize the physical, mental and emotional benefits to the educational experience of student participation while representing your school;
• To recognize the physical, mental and emotional benefits of strong coach-to-athlete and athlete-to-athlete relationships;
• To have all sports and sport-activities and all three sports seasons in some way, shape, form, or fashion going forward;
• To especially honor the devotion and commitment of those who lost spring 2020 participation opportunities by exhausting all options for a safe and healthy resumption of sports and sport-activities.

We realize that it is an impossible task to please all parties involved but our staff and our Board of Control will continue to work with our partners in our member schools and school systems, the Governor’s Office, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Education, our own Sports Medicine Committee and with further guidance from the CDC, the NFHS and its committees to make the best possible decisions for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 280 member schools both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and 6 sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches, and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.