The Indiana High School Athletic Association is poised to ease rules around required physicals for student-athletes who intend to play fall sports.
The IHSAA and other state associations are looking for a temporary rule change that would allow students who completed a sports physical last year to forgo the mandatory examination this year.
The Sports Medicine Advisory Committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations recommended the change, and it was endorsed by the IHSAA staff and its medical committee, Robert Faulkens, IHSAA associate commissioner, told the South Bend Tribune.
Officials will make the recommendation to the board next Monday. The primary reason for the change is that officials don’t believe there will be enough time to safely conduct physicals for all athletes.
The usual process for conducting high school physicals involves a group setting where student-athletes move from station to station. That’s not possible given current physical distancing recommendations.
“The risks far outweigh the rewards,” said Dr. Steve Simons, a physician at Saint Joseph Health System and chairman of the Indiana State Medical Association’s sports medicine committee.
Indiana has about 160,000 student-athletes, so the proposed plan would result in about 120,000 fewer required physicals this year.
