Stakeholder group against resumption of school sports due to COVID-19

The influential group stated its position following a recent meeting with the Inter-Secondary Schools Association (ISSA).

In a statement the group said: “The NPTAJ is strongly opposed to any resumption of sporting activities in the near future, as we believe the COVID-19 protocols established to date is not enough, and schools already are financially pressured with all that is required for proper implementation of health protocols for the upcoming academic year.”

Arising from this meeting the NPTAJ said ISSA could not guarantee that all mandatory health protocols as per government mandate will be instituted and adhered to.

“All athletes, coaches and managers should be required to take mandatory testing for the coronavirus, as this disease puts our athletes at extremely high risk for respiratory complications,” it said.

“Furthermore, there is no evidence that the mandatory health testing and support systems that were requested a few years ago for all student athletes is even fully in place. Mandatory testing for all athletes has to be a must if any school sporting activities are to be contemplated.

“Plus, establishing COVID-19 protocols in sports will come at a very high cost – take for instance, the English Premier League that has already cost millions of pounds to manage, and comes with the mandatory distancing of athletes from their families and familiar surroundings for extended periods of time, living in a bubble, with extreme measures taken for retrieval and containment of supplies.”

In light of its stance on the matter the NPTAJ is calling for the postponement of all ISSA-related activities until the coronavirus is “sufficiently contained and reduced”.

“Champs 2020 was cancelled, as was the Olympics postponed until 2021. We are therefore calling on the Inter-Secondary Schools Association (ISSA) to postpone all sports seasons, particularly the schoolboy football season, until sometime in 2021 by when we believe the coronavirus disease should have been sufficiently contained and reduced,” said the NPTAJ.

And should ISSA get the green light nonetheless; the NPTAJ is urging parents to consider all possible risks before exposing their child.

“Parents are being cautioned to properly consider all the implications of exposure to their children where this high-risk disease is concerned, given the circumstances – the nature of the disease, the impact of no social distancing in sports, especially high-contact sports,” it said.