For the first time in many months, the Siloam Springs football team will add a layer of protection to its workouts.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Friday, in conjunction with the state department of health and Arkansas Activities Association, that the state plans to have contact sports as scheduled this fall. Hutchinson said an advisory committee has been formed to submit a plan to have football, volleyball and cheerleading reach the point where they can have safe contact and proceed with their season.
Hutchinson said the start of this plan will be the addition of football teams wearing helmets in practice, beginning Monday.
Teams can practice in helmets on Monday through Friday of next week along with no contact drills, said Hutchinson, who was joined in the press conference by Lance Taylor, executive director of the AAA.
Later the AAA clarified that teams can wear shoulder pads beginning on Wednesday. Locker rooms can be used but must be sanitized after each use. Social distancing and masks must be used when possible.
Siloam Springs head football coach Brandon Craig said the Panthers will be excited to add a dimension to their workouts but know they are still limited for now.
"We are very excited to put on the helmets and understand there are still guidelines we need to follow to make sure we keep our kids safe," Craig said. "It just gives everyone a good feeling to know that we're moving in the right direction."
Friday's press conference did not divulge details for how volleyball can begin full practices, but the Lady Panthers were pumped up after learning the news during a watch party of the governor's press conference.
"This announcement gave our kids hope for something 'normal' out of 2020," said head coach Joellen Wright. "They will get to make more memories with their teammates. We know there will be guidelines, and we are willing to follow them. Bottom line is they will be allowing us to have a season, and for that we will be grateful. We hope to bring that into our play."
Volleyball season is scheduled to begin in late August, while football's first game is Aug. 28 at home against Rogers.
The football team had its final summer workout on Thursday before outside practice was cut short by a rain storm.
The Panthers are scheduled to start fall practice at 7 a.m. Monday.
"We're going to do everything we can to have our kids ready to play that first game Aug. 28 against Rogers within the guidelines of what's been set," Craig said.
Craig said the Panthers' workouts will be a lot of individual drills and some special teams drills with the noncontact regulations.
"We're not going to be able to touch each other," Craig said. "We'll have drills set up that keep kids from touching others or bags or shields or anything. It's going to be a challenge, but I think our coaches have gotten very creative about making sure that we're doing the right thing first and finding ways to still help our kids get better."
Craig emphasized the need to have a period of acclimation with helmets and eventually pads to prepare for the season.
"I listened to Nick Saban talk about it. At the college level they need about four weeks to prepare themselves through practice and training and contact," he said. "In high school I think about two weeks is what we need. And if we don't get that two weeks, then I suspect they'll push the season back to where we do get at least two weeks of training in pads to be ready for the season. These kids haven't been in pads since November of last year. They missed the 10 days of spring football padding. They missed the summer camps, the summer pad camps. They missed the prospect camps where usually they're in pads anywhere from 10 to 15 days in the summer doing those kinds of things.
"You can fit a body (to contact) without pads. But as you start to wear a helmet, carry the helmet, carry the shoulder pads, the heat that's associated with carrying and wearing both, you're acclimated to that. Then also the actual fitting of the contact and how to tackle, how to block, how to fit up on people -- that takes time to get used to."
Craig said he told his players they have to remain open-minded and flexible.
"I told the kids (Thursday), one of the key words in our English language for us right now as players and coaches is flexibility," he said. "We have to be flexible. We have to understand that things can change. We have to realize that something we have planned might get canceled. I think that's what parents are going to have to understand. We have a plan. We've always had a plan. We've always followed the plan, but right now we may not be able to follow it exactly as we have in the past. We're going to have to adjust and be flexible."
The Panthers will practice in the morning on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The rest of the practices for August are scheduled for the afternoon because of teachers' professional development schedule.