When Can Kids Play Sports Again?How To Keep Youth Safe From Coronavirus

In most cases, playing sports is a healthy thing to do. In fact, there have been efforts such the Aspen Institute’s Project Play to get more kids to play sports, to enjoy all of the social, mental, and physical health benefits that such physical activity can bring. So what are kids supposed to do about sports now that this whole Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic thing is happening? When will it be safe again to play with others, to join practices, to join leagues?

These questions are likely on the minds of many kids and parents while businesses and organizations across the U.S. sort of, kind of, maybe re-open. With all the confusing chatter on social media and from political leaders and others, messages about when, what, and how to re-open may seem as mixed as an avocado salad in a blender strapped to a shake weight. The SARS-CoV2 is far from hanging up its spikes and instead is still actively circulating around the country with Covid-19 cases continuing to rise in many states. Even though youth and school sports teams and leagues may be resuming practices and games in some locations, parents may be justifiably concerned about the safety of returning too soon to play.

In fact, a recent survey revealed that 50% of parents worried that their children will get ill by returning to sports, as Jon Solomon, Editorial Director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society Program, described. This number was even higher (59%) among African American parents. A team from North Carolina State University, working with those from the Project Play, Utah State University and George Mason University, conducted this survey of 1,050 adults during the first week of May. This sample of adults was nationally-representative in terms of race/ethnicity, household income, geographic region and education level. Of course, each adult surveyed had to have a child (between ages 8 to 18) who had played organized sports in the past year because otherwise the answer to “are you worried that your child will get ill” could be automatically “no” or “what child? I have a child?”

Kids’ health isn’t the only concern. The survey found that 46% of those parents surveyed were worried about getting ill themselves, should their kids go back to playing sports. That’s because unless you keep your kids in a capsule (which, by the way, you shouldn’t do), they may bring whatever they are exposed to back home for everyone else to enjoy. Then there’s the issue of parents attending their kids sports events and potentially catching the virus directly from coaches, kids, and other parents Of the parents who typically watch their kids play, 56% expressed fear of getting sick.

So what should you do? Is there better guidance than Uncle Bob on Facebook who may not even really be an Uncle? Well, the Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society Program has teamed up the its Health, Medicine and Society (HMS) Program to develop a Return to Play website to offer exactly that kind of guidance. The website includes recommendations assembled by major sports, fitness, health, and outdoors organizations, so it’s not just from person in a room who happens to have Internet access. For example, you can find links to documents such as the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee guidance on Return to Training, the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee guidance on Sports & Events, Cthe Centers for Disease Control (CDC) considerations for Youth Sports, the CDC considerations for Parks and Recreational Facilities, the National Recreation and Parks Association on Slowing the Spread, and the National Federation of State High School Associations guidance on high school sports and activities .

If you want a quick bottom line, the website as of May 27 says that “the CDC currently recommends no organized sports or activities, given the many challenges of containing the virus in group settings.” More specifically, the linked CDC website right now recommends against resuming organized team sports, indicating that, “in general, most organized activities and sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, and football that are held on park fields, open areas.”

This makes sense because it would be quite difficult to maintain Covid-19 coronavirus prevention measures while playing such team sports. Imagine having to stay at least six feet apart at all times, which could make for a terrible zone defense in basketball, football, and the other football. How about having to disinfect throughout the game the balls and any other equipment that multiple people may touch. Having people run up and down the field with a spray bottle could get complicated. Remember, without doing a test, you can’t really tell whether someone is contagious. Somewhere between 20% to 35% of those infected by the virus may never develop any symptoms. So asking your quarterback on every play, “before you throw the ball to me, do you have a fever, cough, headache, or diarrhea,” won’t work.

Now, you may wonder why professional baseball leagues in South Korea and Taiwan, and the Bundesliga in Germany have resumed play. Well, their situations are different. They have had better control of the virus, including having more comprehensive and organized testing and contact tracing programs already in place. This has given them a better idea of where specifically the virus is currently spreading and allowed them to more quickly identify and contain those who are infectious. Regardless of what you may hear about the number of tests that have been performed, which is only one flawed measure of a testing program, the U.S. has been slow to implement comprehensive and effective test-trace-isolate operations. This has made it difficult to determine where specifically the virus is currently spreading and how to contain its spread. As anyone who has played sports will tell you, it’s much more difficult to take on an opponent when you can’t even see most of the field or where the opponent may be.

Plus, these are highly organized professional sports leagues with resources to take precautions. The local baseball league, the traveling soccer team, or the high school lacrosse team may not necessarily have the capabilities and expertise guiding them. Make sure that you know what evidence and guidance the organizers and coaches of such leagues and teams are using. Check to see if there are discrepancies with what’s indicated on the Return to Play website.

This doesn’t mean that your children can’t do any sports activities for now. The Return to Play website divides sports activities into the following three, traffic light color-coded risk levels:

• Lowest Risk: “Individual exercise or training at home, alone or with shared household members, with owned and sanitized equipment.”
• Medium Risk: “Individual exercise or training in public, alone or with shared household members, with owned and sanitized equipment; individual exercise or training in public with non-shared household members physically distant.”
• Highest Risk: “Any group play or training with non-household members not physically distant in private or public, any usage of shared equipment.”

Then the website goes through a number of common sports and fitness activities and identifies the types of activities that fall under each of these three categories. Sorry extreme ironing and cheese rolling aren’t included but most other sports are. For example, based on guidance from USA Basketball and the Jr. NBA, here’s the breakdown for basketball:

• Lowest Risk: “Dribble, shoot and participate in other ballhandling drills or activities alone or with household members at home in driveway or backyard with your own sanitized equipment sanitized equipment.”
• Medium Risk: “Engage in the above activities with household members at indoor or outdoor public court, making sure to sanitize any commonly shared surfaces such as gate handles, benches, basketballs, etc.”
• Highest Risk: “Participate in any team or large group pickup play with non-household members and shared balls. Resources: USA Basketball • Jr. NBA.”

You can also go to the Jr. NBA YouTube page to find some lower risk basketball-esque activities to do. For example, here is an at-home workout provided by Detroit Pistons guard Langston Galloway on behalf of the Jr. NBA:

So there are things that you or your kid can do the stay active and keep the skills sharp. Don’t let the pandemic thwart your ability to get the CDC-recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day for children and 30 minutes a day for adults. (By the way, jumping on and off Zoom calls is not really physical activity). Things may change when there is a better sense of where the virus may and may not be spreading. The CDC recently released a guidance web site on what teams and leagues can do to protect kids. For now, individual sports may be fine as long as you can take the proper precautions of keeping six feet apart from others, wearing a mask if you are going to be around other people, disinfecting equipment, and washing your hands frequently. Hold off on team sports where these precautions will be tough to maintain.

Instead, be creative in finding ways to stay active. If you either stop exercising or simply try to return to what you did in the past too soon, the virus could end up winning. And no one should be cheering for the virus, except for maybe the virus.