Athletics at San Luis Obispo High School are a huge part of many staff and students’ lives. COVID-19 put a change on SLOHS sports in order to follow safety precautions to further the spread of COVID-19.

Expressions reached out to athletic director Marci Beddall to get some answers about SLOHS sports. 

Expressions: What happens to SLOHS sports in each tier to make sure we follow safety protocols? 

SLOHS Athletic Director Marci Beddall: The different tiers will change how sports will practice and be able to meet. Each sport has a different designation depending on the amount of contact it has. So for example, wrestling has more contact than tennis- so the rules and regulations vary in each sport; however, a few basic rules are if we are in the purple tier we have to be outdoors only. If we are in the red tier then we can be indoors with masks on the entire time. If we are in the Orange tier then we would be able to play inside with no masks on.

Expressions: What is a ¨pod¨ and how the idea of a ¨pod¨ work? 

Beddall: Pods” is the terminology that is used to classify a cohort of student-athletes and coaches that remain stable and can only be within six feet of each other. Each coach can only oversee 14 athletes in a pod and there cannot be more than 16 people in a pod, so 14 athletes and two coaches would be the standard.

 Sports are very different then they were last spring so we can follow safety protocols to keep everyone healthy. Currently, as we are in purple tier, sports are taking place outside ONLY and in pods which are made to lower the chances of spreading illness. 

Sources: Latimes.com