Football practice is ON, and excitement is unusually high because just a few weeks ago, there wasn’t even going to be a football season. Then the official word came from CHSAA: “football is back” (Oh, and by the way, you have less than a week to get organized and prepared!).
Diligent Preparation: Guidelines for Players
But none of that matters now because we’re playing football this week! However, it’s not quite business as usual. Because we usually welcome large crowds to football games, we wanted to get this information out to the Denver Christian community.
All Denver Christian athletes will be following strict protocols this year, and our coaches and athletes will be following them in order to be able to complete. In football, for example, this has meant, among other things:
- Players wait in a designated area with masks on and distanced from their teammates.
- They can’t enter the field, let alone touch a piece of equipment, until a wellness check is completed by a coach and they are deemed healthy enough to participate.
- “Keep your space!”and “Masks on!” have become regular mantras.
- A coach’s encouragement to “focus on the little things” means more than pay attention to your footwork or remember your responsibility for each play. It now means remember to use hand sanitizer and don’t stand next to a teammate when not actively engaged in a drill.
Doing Your Part: Guidelines for Fans
We know that football games are a favorite hangout for Denver Christian students & fans, and we also know that the requirements we’re under mean that this year’s football experience will be different for our fans too.
Here’s the guidelines for DC football fans:
- 120 tickets available for Thunder Fans and 50 for guests for each game
- Priority ticket purchasing is first offered to parents and pep band members, who will be emailed links.
- A link will be sent out to all Denver Christian families for all remaining available tickets, which can then be prepurchased on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you’re not able to join us in person, you can cheer on your DC Thunder in real time by joining the game’s livestream.
- Upon arrival to the game: you must show verification of ticket purchase on your phone, get your temperature taken, wear a mask, and social distance. If you have any symptoms of Covid or a fever 10o.3 or higher, please remain home because you won’t be admitted in
- Masks must be worn at all times, except while eating or drinking while sitting in your designated spot
- Bleacher seating is available as singles and doubles only, and blue tape will will mark the spots you can sit at
- Guests and DCS fans must remain on their own sides
- No spectators are allowed along the fence of field space
- Social distancing is required in lines for concessions and restrooms
- A concession cart with prepackaged food is available on the guest side
- At the end of the game, no spectators are not allowed on the field
- There’s limited seating available on the large grassy hill for physically-distanced guest seating.
Supporting Our Athletes
That’s a lot of guidelines! We’re all looking forward to ‘normal football’ again, but for now we can support our athletes who’ve been working hard in order to have a season by observing these guidelines.
We can also choose an attitude of gratitude: for a recaptured season we thought was lost, for a healthy student body and athletics teams who are enjoying practicing and competition again, for opportunities to gather as a Denver Christian community, for the hard work and dedication of our athletics staff and coaches and teams, and for the opportunity to bear witness to Jesus Christ through all of this.
This week’s game: Thursday, 7 p.m. Gates open at 6:30 for ticket holders.
Go Thunder!