WCPS District Athletic Director speaks on importance of KHSAA dead period

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – One week is down, and there’s one week to go for the KHSAA dead period, a crucial time for everyone involved in high school athletics to spend time away from the court or field.

“There’s one goal in mind, that’s to give kids a break from the grind of athletics, working with their coaches, workouts,” Warren County Public School district athletic director Greg Howard said. “Our number one goal with the KHSAA is kids and giving them opportunity, what a great opportunity to have these days off and be a kid.”

The two-week stretch from June 25-July 9 provides a window to take a vacation or simply just beat the heat of summer as a new year approaches.

Dead period prohibits practices or workouts and even cuts down on any form of communication between coaches and players.

It also means no stepping foot on school property to train individually.

“Obviously, athletes that want to stay in shape for this fall… they’re going to try and work out, go to facilities, might try and sneak in on some of our campuses, but by definition, our campuses are closed to all athletes,” Howard said.

Many across the state have their own opinion on dead period, whether it’s too short, too long or just right, and Howard also has his own take on the time off.

“I would like to see the dead period be as much as three weeks and just give everybody that break,” Howard said.

He also would like to see the window of time off shifted a little bate later into the month, with a start date of July 1.

“You look at right now, how’d you like to start football and soccer and cross-country practice right now in these types of conditions? You just wouldn’t be able to practice, so we’ve got to be vigilant and look, is there a better way to do what we do?”

Howard is entering his eighth year on the KHSAA Board of Control and says the length of the break is continually discussed, along with other important topics such as school choice and broader definitions of athletic seasons.

In all decisions handled, Howard emphasized that the well-being of each student-athlete is always the top priority, and the dead period falls right into that classification.

“I think it’s extremely important, more so now than ever. When you look at the mental health issues that we’re facing, they are real. Kids want to compete and they want to make people happy. They want to make their teammates and their coaches happy, they want to make their parents happy and make sure they’re performing well,” Howard said. “What you’re seeing now is just a total separation… vital time for a kid during the summertime to kind of get back to doing those things that they would do not being an athlete.”

July 10 is just over one week from being here, and with it comes the start of another jam-packed sports season.