JMCSS continues to postpone sports practices

Teenagers here in Jackson are testing positive for COVID-19 here in Jackson and as a result, the Jackson madison county school system continues to postpone sports practices.

For students, sports gives them an outlet to showcase their talents. The young athletes play a huge role in bringing communities together. but these upcoming seasons are heavily impacted by the coronavirus.

“It’s affected it in a big way,” said Tim Gilmer who is the athletic director for JMCSS

After being under a stay at home order for nearly three months, Jackson entered phase one of their reopening plan. This allowed student-athletes to participate in summer workouts, even with a number of restrictions.

“We were very limited on what we could do. Our coaches, administrators, athletic directors, student-athletes all did a great job with that.

But when leaders of the district realized that young people are contracting the virus, they had to make a hard decision.

“What caught our eye was the teenage group, the group that we deal with in middle school and high school were really on the rise. So we stepped back and decided we were going to take the next two weeks off.”

While workouts are shutdown, Tim Gilmer is hopeful that the administrators and other athletic directors will come up with a plan that will benefit the athletes for the upcoming fall season and for the future.

“We’re going to look, we are going to evaluate to see where the numbers are and hopefully it will give us some time to make some decisions about how things are gonna look in the fall.

Timothy Gilmergilmer, the district athletic director wants fans and family members of the athletes to be supportive and to follow all CDC guidelines in hopes of getting back to work for the upcoming season.