Second semester is just around the corner and students are anxiously awaiting the return to campus with hybrid learning, though with the recent movement to the purple tier there are no guarantees. But what’s happening in the sports world? Will seasons finally start? Will contact finally be initiated?

As of right now, Oak Park has been utilizing contactless practices and training sessions, some of which are led by the students. For example, the cross country team has been gathering in smaller groups organized by the captains while intermittently meeting with their coaches. Before practice begins, students are screened by taking their temperature and answering a quick survey about their health status.

However, even if Oak Park High School returns to school in-person — which would require a minimum of two weeks in the red tier — it does not mean that contact in sports would automatically ensue.

“We would only be permitted to do contact in sports if, specifically, the County Department of Health gives us the ‘okay’ to do that,” Athletic Director Tim Chevalier said. “We’ve been in the red tier now for the last four weeks and we have not been given the green light to have contact sports by the County … Even if we are able to return to school in the hybrid format (in the red tier), I don’t think we will have contact yet.”

It’s possible that a movement of Ventura County from the red tier to the orange tier would open up opportunities for contact. Nonetheless, recent spikes in Ventura County have resulted in a return to the purple tier, so that possibility is looking unlikely.

“I could potentially see where the County makes the decision that, even if you’re in the red tier, we may be able to, with the ability to test in greater capacities before events, have contact in our drills, practices, games, etc,” Chevalier said.

This hypothetical return to practice and contact would also elicit a screening process beforehand that is similar to the current one. In addition to taking one’s temperature and answering the questionnaire, students could expect the screening process to include some type of rapid test.

While permitting full-on contact in sports seems unlikely at the moment, certain sports may be able to return to normalcy if they can operate without students in close proximity to one another.