Commonground
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When playing with flu, it's no game
November 1, 2009
Schools to decide when teams participate
With the upcoming tournament season coinciding with spreading flu cases, the association that oversees the state's interscholastic sports tournaments will rely mainly on school authorities to call the shots on whether their teams participate.
It is mainly up to school principals to decide whether to close a school because of widespread flu and also, in conjunction with school athletic directors and coaches, whether to call off games if team members are suffering flu-like illness, said Paul Wetzel, spokesman for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.
A soccer match between the North Attleboro High School girls' soccer team and King Philip Regional High School was postponed Thursday when too many of the North Attleboro girls were felled by a flu-like illness.
And, the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School principal canceled Saturday's football game against Cape Cod Regional Technical High School and other athletic events after some members of the team and other students developed flu-like symptoms.
Wetzel said the MIAA does not oversee the regular season - individual schools do - but with the tournament season approaching, it could play a role in those decisions. Wetzel said the association does not currently have specific guidelines for dealing with flu-like symptoms beyond advisories issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and those passed along through sports organizations.
USA Hockey, for example, advises providing individual water bottles for athletes, regularly washing hands, cleaning workout gear for each practice or competition and keeping gloves on during the traditional handshake with opponents.
"If they make a decision to close school, they have to tell the Department of Public Health," Wetzel said, adding that also would preclude student athletes from playing.
The reasoning is the same as prohibiting an individual student from competing in athletics if he or she is out of school because of illness.
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2009/11/01/news/6356582.txt