COVID-19 could bring changes for high school sports

Published 9:47 pm Friday, April 10, 2020

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By LARRY VAUGHT

Kentucky High School Athletic Association commissioner Julian Tackett believes the current coronavirus will have long-lasting implications for sports, including some ways that many are not projecting yet.
“The worst part for us is that the carrier group is a lot of the age group we deal with (high school athletes). Will they learn better habits? The older generation is changing habits but will the younger generation?” Tackett said. “There will definitely be more precautions in place when things do return to what we now think of as normal.”
One could be cash no longer be accepted for admission to high school athletic events.
“We may not want to expose people to cash. We may go to only online transactions,” Tackett said. “I think you are going to see little things like that. People don’t always have cash any way and we have learned that cash is very dirty.”
Tackett noted that Scott County High School quit taking cash this year and he expects others to follow suit, which could produce some benefits for schools.
“It eliminates security issues for something like a Friday night football game that has a lot of cash involved in gate receipts,” Tackett said. “You will also have automated record keeping. There may no longer have to be like 38 forms to fill out. That might be a bit of an adjustment for some (school) districts but it can easily be done.”

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