In a normal world, my older son Bradley would have attended a U.S. National Team Regional with the hopes of an invite to the USA Football Middle School Bowl Game Series. In that same normal world, the same would be for my youngest son. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the football activity for my kids has been relegated to playing catch or a game of two-hand touch in the backyard.

As other sports are trying to return after having their seasons suspended, the NFL is planning on business, as usual, this fall and there seems to be momentum building towards college football staying on schedule. But what about high school, youth and flag football? Will there be action on the field this fall?  Depending on where you live, those questions may or may not have an answer yet. As we enter the summer, it’s hard to ignore that fall is literally just around the corner.

With a lot of things up in the air, I think it’s important for all youth and high school football parents to prepare as if there will be a season in the fall.   

Bradley will be starting high school, so my wife is going forward with the assumption that there will be a football season. Here in New York, day camps can open later this month and “low-risk” sports can resume on July 6th. It appears as if Jared will be able to attend a baseball camp and we’re also looking to see if there will be a non-contact football camp taking place.

As the number of cases continues to decline where I live as well as in other states, my guess is that we’re going to get to the point where there will be flag football this fall and summer workouts for high school teams at some point. 

With summer here, it’s going to be important for any youth, high school or flag football player to be ready to go this fall. That starts with finding some football activities this summer. With stores starting to open up around the country, as well as online options, it’s a good time to start shopping around for apparel and equipment. We’re heading towards a new normal with football and other sports, so it’s going to be important to find top of the line water bottles and maybe even shop around for a helmet that a child can call his or her own. It’s also a good idea to stock up on mouthguards, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer that your child may need at games and practices.

We’ve all been through a lot since the middle of March, but summer creeping up, it’s time to have some fun outside and hope we have a youth and high school football season. Not knowing exactly when the green light is coming can be a challenge but preparing now will have everyone ready to go this fall.

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network and WFAN Radio in New York.  His son Bradley is a participant in the U.S. National Team program while his younger son Jared plays flag football.   Peter, his wife Sheryl and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets when they’re not at a youth football field.