ST. LOUIS — The City of St. Louis updated its youth sports guidelines for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic Wednesday.
Under the new guidelines, teams will be allowed to practice with certain coronavirus restrictions in the City of St. Louis, but games of football, soccer, basketball and other sports between different teams will not be permitted.
“The City of St. Louis Department recognizes the value of youth sports and strongly advocates for young people to resume sports in safe environments,” Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of health for the City of St. Louis, said in a press release. “Participating in sports creates heighten risks of becoming infected with COVID-19 and once infected, infecting others. Risks to the athletes, teams, school communities and the general public can be reduced as youth sports return if there is compliance with our newly-released health and safety guidelines.”
The new guidelines place the most significant restrictions on high- and moderate-frequency of contact sports. Those sports include football, ice hockey, baseball, softball, soccer, basketball and volleyball.
Under the updated guidelines, which went into effect Sept. 9, all coaches will be required to wear masks at all times, and all athletes will be required to wear masks when not competing. Team practices and workouts must be limited to 11 or fewer athletes and two coaches. Each player and coach must be screened for potential COVID-19 symptoms before practices and workouts.
If team practices are held, the groups practicing together must remain the same to limit the chance of spread.
For low-frequency of contact sports — which includes gymnastics, track and field, golf, swimming and tennis — coaches and players have the same mask and screening requirements apply.
These sports can hold competitions between teams from the St. Louis area, but tournament-style competitions are not allowed. No spectators are allowed during competitions.
You can find the full requirements below or by clicking here.
