The COVID 19 pandemic presents a myriad of challenges to high school athletic and activity programs. To help address some of those challenges, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has developed a new free online course “COVID-19 for Coaches and Administrators.”
The course includes information from the “Guidance for Opening Up High School Athletics and Activities” document that was released by the NFHS in May for its 51 member state high school associations to consider in restarting high school athletics and other activity programs across the nation.
Additionally, the new Learning Center course offers vital information on COVID-19 for coaches and school administrators on conducting workouts, practices and contests as safely as possible.
"This is a very timely and informative resource to help our membership prepare for the weeks and months ahead," said TSSAA Assistant Executive Director, Mark Reeves.
"Coaches should make viewing this course a very important part of their preseason preparations."
“While we know states – and communities within states – are in different phases concerning COVID-19, we wanted to have a resource available for the interscholastic community to assist returning to activity,” Dan Schuster, NFHS Director of Educational Services, said. “This course discusses what coaches and administrators can do to limit the spread of COVID-19, including practicing hygiene and cleaning, social distancing when possible, and the importance of recording who is at each workout, practice and game to track exposure.”
The NFHS SMAC is a 15-member advisory committee comprised of medical doctors, certified athletic trainers, high school coaches and officials, research specialists and state high school association executives that regularly develops position statements related to medical aspects of conducting high school athletics.
“Dr. Michael Koester, chair of the NFHS SMAC, put extra time into the development of this course and allowed us to turn this course around very quickly,” Schuster said. “His efforts coincide with the goals of the NFHS Learning Center in providing timely and valuable educational materials for state associations and all constituents within the interscholastic community. It is our hope that this course will be another helpful resource and one that can assist the restart of interscholastic programs when each state is ready."
For more information and to access the “COVID-19 for Coaches and Administrators” course from the Learning Center, please visit: https://nfhslearn.com/courses/covid-19-for-coaches-and-administrators.
To view the Learning Center’s entire course catalog, please visit: https://nfhslearn.com/courses.