KNOXVILLE — Area high school football teams can begin full practice sessions Monday morning and the season is slated to kick off the week of Aug. 20.
Practices and the season were put on hold recently when Tennessee Governor Bill Lee extended his state of emergency order until Aug. 29.
On Friday, Lee, who had been working closely with the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association, to develop a contingency plan for high school football and girls soccer, provided an exemption for athletes involved in contact sports so that they could begin.
Without the exemption, football games would have started with an abbreviated schedule on Sept. 18, while soccer games 11 days prior.
The high school golf season started as scheduled and competition is already underway. Cross Country and volleyball have started for practices in preparation for the season.
Football and soccer teams were previously limited to conditioning and non-contact drills.