Timpview Students, Staff Prepare Stadium For Socially-Distanced Home Opener
Aug 14, 2020, 6:33 PM | Updated: 9:59 pm
PROVO, Utah – Timpview High School students, teachers and staff showed up with rulers and stickers in hand Friday morning as they prepared for the T’Birds’ socially-distanced home football opener.
“We’re putting down stickers so those with tickets will know where they are sitting. The goal is to keep people spaced out,” Timpview senior Elizabeth Geary. “Usually our football games are packed. This year will be different. But I am thankful we’ve been able to adapt so many things to keep people safe.”
Geary is one of only 100 students — all of them seniors — allowed to watch Timpview’s season opener against Lone Peak High in person.
The student body at Timpview High totals nearly 2,500.
TONIGHT: 50 Season Opening Games for High School Football Teams across Utah.
Faculty Members at Timpview High School have prepped 40 hours to get the stadium ready, under the UHSAA Covid-19 guidelines.
Only 100 students will be allowed in. And dozens of family members. pic.twitter.com/CfF6myvYD8— Brittany Tait (@Brittany_KSL) August 14, 2020
“I am counting this as a victory,” Geary said. “Many schools in other states still don’t know if they get a football season. You don’t realize how important the little things in your life are until you can’t do them anymore.”
Timpview prepared for only 25% of its normal capacity in the stadium – about 650 people.
“The state sent down guidelines for us to follow. And then we took it a step further,” said Junior Roberts, Timpview student advocate/assistant to the athletic director.
Roberts said he has received numerous calls from coaches across the country asking for advice on how to run a safe fall sporting season.
“It’s cool that as a state we’re going to lead the way,” Roberts said.
Only varsity cheerleaders are allowed to lead crowds, and masks are required except for tumbling and stunting.
Timpview spent nearly 40 hours designing a ticketing system and assigned seating chart for families of varsity student-athletes.
“We’ve marked out spaces where families can sit together and then we have made sure there’s six to seven feet in between the next family,” Roberts said.
Administrators said they are taking it one game at a time.
“This is hard but I know our students are very resilient. When you ask them to do something hard — they step up and do it,” said Timpview Principal Fidel Montero. “As a community if we do our part and if we wear our masks and social distance, we can have a great and complete season.”
Friday’s game pitted No. 5 Timpview against No. 4 Lone Peak, with the Knights shutting out the T’Birds 24-0.
