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EDWARDSVILLE - The football team at Edwardsville High School is continuing its Return to Play workouts under the guidelines set by the Illinois High School Association, and the Tigers' workouts are going very well in anticipation of the start of preseason practice Aug. 10.
With new restrictions that were made necessary after reports that students and athletes had recently tested positive at both Lake Zurich and Quincy Notre Dame high schools, Edwardsville has made the needed adjustments, and the workouts are still going along smoothly.
"Everything's good; we're doing the best that we can," said Tigers' head coach Matt Martin. "Obviously, we have limitations on what we can do, and what we can't do, so we're working on what we can do, and try to get better at it."
One of the rules require all players and coaches to wear masks at all times, and even with that, Martin and his staff are always looking out for the safety of their players.
"Right, but with having masks on them, in our case, it's safety first," Martin said. "We always want to keep our kids safe."
Fortunately, none of the players or coaches have tested positive for COVID-19, and Martin always emphasizes that if a player doesn't feel well, he shouldn't come out to practice that day.
"We haven't had anyone test positive yet," Martin said, "but if a kid doesn't feel well, we ask them to go home, and if a kid thinks that he has the symptoms, we ask him to get tested before he comes back."
Despite all the concerns, spirits have been very high, and workouts have been going very good for the Tigers.
"It's been good," Martin said. "The coaches and the kids have been enthusiastic, everyone's been working hard, with high energy and having fun."
Needless to say, the Tiger players and coaches, along with the families and fans, are looking forward to getting back to normal as soon as possible.
"Absolutely," Martin said. "It's safe to say that everyone's looking forward to normalcy."
And the ultimate goal is to have a very safe 2020 season, which is scheduled to start Aug. 28 with a big game against traditional St. Louis power DeSmet Jesuit.
?"That's the plan," Martin said.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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