Monday morning, Lawrence High Athletics announced via Twitter that home sporting events in the main gym will allow four tickets per participant. The West Gym will allow attendance of two spectators per participant. Opposing participants will continue to be allocated two tickets each. 

Free State announced that they will be implementing similar rules starting this week as well. 

The use of masks and signing in upon entry will continue to be required at all athletic events and other guidelines could be adjusted if necessary. 

The rule change was instituted on January 29th by KSHSAA, and many school districts around the state immediately adopted the new policy. 

While COVID numbers are currently on a downward trajectory in Douglas County, there are some concerns about allowing more fans. 

“I do think it will be nice to have more people to cheer for, I just hope we don’t have a huge spike since we are in the home stretch,” junior cheerleader Vivian Podrebarac said. “I do believe everyone will do their best to be safe though.” 

Players will now be able to have more family members in attendance, such as siblings. 

“It’s great,” said senior guard Jackson Dooley when asked about the rule changes.”It will be nice to have my brother and sister come to some games.” 

The rule revision will also create more opportunities for students to attend their classmates’ sporting events. 

“So far having two spectators seems to be working well so having the opportunity to bring more people back and create a good atmosphere while also being safe is great,” junior Sam Lopez said.  

Participants will have four tickets available for the remaining home basketball games this season. The varsity boys basketball team has two regular-season home games remaining this Thursday versus Olathe North and next Tuesday versus Shawnee Mission-South. The girls’ varsity team takes on Free State at home this Friday.

“Supporting our athletes is super important,” Lopez said. “Allowing more students to have access to actual high school experiences is really important during this time.”