Texas High School Football Players Return To Practice Field For First Time During Coronavirus Pandemic
CEDAR HILL, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Monday marked the first day high school student athletes were allowed to return to campus to participate in strength and conditioning drills.
Before the clock struck 8:00 a.m., and the temperature hit 90 degrees, the Cedar Hill High School football team was working up a sweat on campus inside Longhorn Stadium.
"Back with my team, my coaches," Wide Receiver Julian Austin said with a grin. "It's great to be back here and get ready for the season."
Texas Student-Athletes Return To Practice Fields During Coronavirus Pandemic, Summer Heat
While the start of the football season is still a long ways away, that's okay. It's been a long time since the Cedar Hill Football team had a chance to conduct any kind of workout together.
"It's been about 80 days since we've done anything structured." said Cedar Hill Head Coach Carlos Lynn. "Man, you never realize how much you missed doing in those 80 days."
The University Interscholastic League, which is the governing body for high school sports in the state of Texas, suspended all team activities in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak.
With the state of Texas gradually reopening, the UIL ruled that teams could start to bring back student athletes for workouts.
Carlos Lynn and the Cedar Hill High School coaching staff, have worked overtime to make sure they follow all health guidelines and safety issues.
Social distancing, hand sanitizing stations, wiping down weights in between sets and checking the temperatures of each players before and after the workout are some of the rules put into practice at Longhorn Stadium.
"We moved everything outside, so the ratio of player to coach is larger." Coach Lynn explained. "Everything we've done is intentional, with (the student athletes) needs and safety in mind."