Iola High School’s summer football training will begin Monday, with extra health precautions put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sessions will be at the football stadium at Riverside Park from 6:30 to 7:10 a.m. for juniors and seniors; and from 7:30 to 8:10 for freshmen and sophomores.
Players are recommended to bring cleats and their own water. Because of health and sanitation concerns, there will be no communal water supply.
Bottles will be provided to players who need them on the first day of training.
Each session will feature four groups, with no more than 14 athletes per group. The groups will not mix nor rotate, to adhere with social distancing guidelines.
Cones and lines will determine how close the athletes should be to each other outside practice sessions. The space will ensure athletes are properly social distancing.
Athletes are required to attend 10 conditioning workouts before they are eligible to participate in team camps later in the summer.
Because of potential changes in state guidelines, coaches are encouraging the players to sign up for group texts to ensure a viable communication is in place. To do so, players can send the message “@ddaughart” to 81010. This allows the players to receive updates without downloading an app.
