BATH HIGH SCHOOL 2850 Bible Road Lima, OH 45801 419-221-0366
Brian Jesko, Principal Cam Staley, Assistant Principal

Bath Student Athletes and Parents:

We are excited that our athletes will be returning to campus on Monday, June 1st to begin strength and conditioning and skill development with their respective school programs. Last Friday the OHSAA and Ohio Department of Health adjusted their original timeline and permitted schools to reopen school facilities at the discretion of the individual school districts. Furthermore, the OHSAA communicated a three phased plan on how schools could return to athletics in the coming weeks. Our administration has met with all our head coaches and reviewed their plans for reacclimating our student athletes to our various athletic programs. Our sports will adhere to some overarching guidelines, but each individual sport workout or practice will look slightly different based upon that sport. The amount of student athletes permitted to gather in a workout or practice will be different from sport to sport as different school facilities and venues will be in use. I assure you that the safety and health of our student athletes is our paramount and primary concern as we begin to return to athletics. We will be using the OHSAA recommendations as guidance to slowly bring our sports back. Some of these guidelines may be viewed as cautious or conservative. We want to get our programs back to full go as soon as possible and we don’t want to undo the progress we make by slowly phasing in our sports. A complete copy of the OHSAA three phase plan is available on their website. Attendance to workouts and skills training is voluntary. Listed below are some of the main tenets of return to play that will guide our athletic programs.

•	Masks-Wearing masks will not be a mandatory practice. Athletes and coaches will wear masks at the discretion of the athlete, family or coach. Each individual family has different views on this practice and have circumstances that are unique to their family. It is their decision and we believe limiting contact and spacing between athletes can safely mitigate the use of masks.

•	Gathering Size/Spacing- We will be using the “six foot of social distancing” principle to determine gathering size rather than imposing a specific number uniform across the board. Our venues indoor and outdoor have a vastly different footprint and we believe it is common sense that gathering size will be dictated by the amount of space our programs have to conduct workouts/skills training. Furthermore, we are attempting to group our athletes in pods where they will be with the same small number of athletes for at least the first two weeks.

•	Locker Rooms- Our locker rooms will not be in use for at least the month of June. This will reduce the space we have to clean and maintain. Athletes will be instructed to go home and shower after their workout or practice.

•	Arrival- Athletes should arrive no earlier than 10-15 minutes prior to their workout/skills training. They should arrive in whatever attire is needed for that workout and they need to bring their own individual water bottle. Gathering of athletes prior to a workout is prohibited.

•	Screening- Athletes will have temperature and symptom check prior to the workout. A daily log of temperatures and symptoms will be recorded by staff in the event we would have a confirmed COVID case with one of our athletes.

•	Workout/Skills Training- Each coach will be responsible for maintaining the “six foot of spacing” guideline in their respective workouts. Spotters in the weight room will spot from each end of the bar in our core lifts that require spotters for heavy weight.

•	Cleaning/Sanitization- All equipment that will be used by multiple athletes will be wiped down and cleansed in between use. Additionally, our maintenance and custodial staff will be “fogging” our high traffic small spaces daily to disinfect them.

•	Departure- Athletes should be picked up promptly at the conclusion of their workout. Coaches will stay on time for the convenience of parents and these rules will help prevent gatherings post workout.

We hope this plan will allow us to begin our preparations for our fall sports as well as allow our other sports to begin off season workouts. We understand that our coaches and athletes want to get back to competition as soon as possible. Bringing our sports back in a responsible way will bring them back sooner. Our coaching staff has been instructed to build positive relationships with kids, physically get our athletes back in competition shape and work on the individual skills our athletes need to in order to perform at a high level in their respective sports. Strength and conditioning of our multisport athletes will be prioritized in their fall sports, so that they are not being conditioned in multiple sports across the day. Our winter and spring sports should focus on skill development for our multisport athletes and can add in conditioning components for athletes that are not participating in the fall. The OHSAA recommendations and the Responsible Restart documentation from the Governor’s Office and Ohio Department of Health has been distributed to our coaching staff. We can’t wait to see our athletes back on campus and as always BLEED BLUE!

Sincerely,

Cam Staley Athletic Director Assistant Principal Bath High School