Crater High School gets athletes back on the field for summer practice

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Summer high school sports and activities are allowed to resume under OSAA and Oregon Department of Education guidelines. Now Crater High school is introducing its plan to get athletes back on the field this summer.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all District 6 facilities are closed, and the fields at Crater High School are all locked up. Come Monday, June 15th, footballers will be back on Dutch Meyer stadium for summer practice, but it’ll look different than years past.

“It’s our responsibility to make sure we do this thing right to make sure we have a season come fall,” Crater High School Head Football Coach, Randy Waite said.

Waite said summer practices for the team would’ve started right after Memorial Day. This year, those practices didn’t happen and it wasn’t just football that took a hit.

“I think it’s unmeasurable and unless people have been an athlete, a college or high school athlete, I don’t think they understand how this impacts these kids,” Crater High School Athletic Director, David Heard said.

Now that Fall athletes can get back to practice, keeping them safe is the main focus. This week, Crater High School released its plan.

“Pods.,” Heard said.  “They’re in small groups or a group up to as many as ten. That group will compete and do drills and things together for this entire two week period of this first two-week session. If something were to come down with a student-athlete, hopefully, we can remove that pod and it won’t affect the group as a whole.”

Heard said the hardest part will be breaking the kids of their normal habits like socializing and high-fiving. But, this is the first of many steps Crater can take now to hopefully get sports back on the field and in the gym this Fall.

“We’re not worried about that we’re just trying to do it safely and responsibly,” Waite said.

Crater football begins workouts Monday, June 15th with the pod system. No word yet from OSAA if high school sports and activities will be allowed to resume in the fall.