Tasked with keeping everyone healthy
Navy using group of medical pros to prepare fall athletes
Jim Berry begins by clarifying he is a certified athletic trainer, not an epidemiologist.
Berry is qualified to discuss the safety protocols the Naval Academy Athletic Association has implemented for the return of sports during a coronavirus pandemic. Navy’s associate athletic director for sports medicine is not an expert on COVID-19, although he learns more and more about the highly contagious disease every day.
“There is a reason this is called a novel coronavirus,” said Berry, emphasizing the word “novel.” “We know some interesting aspects, but it’s still a new virus we are learning how to dance with, if you will.”
Naval Academy officials mobilized to combat coronavirus as soon as it landed on their doorstep. Spring sports were canceled in mid-March and that is when Vice Admiral Sean S. Buck, academy superintendent, organized a medical task force to start researching and preparing.
Berry is one of several medical professionals from the NAAA who were especially focused on finding ways for Navy’s 33 varsity sports to operate safely in an uncertain future. Orthopedic surgeons Dr. John Wilckens and Dr. Lance LeClere and team physician Dr. Rich Quattrone were also part of a group that began meeting regularly starting in April to begin the process of developing policies and procedures.
“We came together knowing we would need to answer questions rather quickly,” Berry said. “This task force has been consistently meeting for 16 weeks about how to move forward, not only as an athletic department but as a Naval Academy community. This has been a huge team endeavor in order to get where we are today.”
Fall sports athletes have been returning to the Naval Academy throughout the past month, with members of the football team the first to arrive. For the purposes of this article, Berry focused on how the return of varsity football has been handled.
Players reported to Alumni Hall, were promptly tested, then were quarantined at Bancroft Hall for two weeks. This “Restriction of Movement” (ROM) period paired players in dormitory rooms, prompting coach Ken Niumatalolo to consider a way to make those two weeks productive.
“We thought about maybe putting a quarterback with a center so they could work on exchanges, or a quarterback with a wide receiver so they could play catch,” said Niumatalolo, noting the midshipmen were allowed outside for exercise for a period each day.
“In the end, I realized that you can’t rush it. I would rather err on the side of caution.
We need to be wise with what we’re doing.”
Approximately 100 football players came back to the academy and all were tested a second time during the two-week quarantine period.
Once the ROM order was lifted July 22, Navy football entered Phase 1, which allowed for voluntary workouts with small groups. The Midshipmen are now in Phase 2, which features strength and conditioning sessions with slightly larger groups. Berry said Phase 3 allows for half-team practice situations, while Phase 4 is a full return to play.
“We’ve just been going at it like we usually do — going hard in the weight room, running sprints hard,” Navy senior cornerback Cameron Kinley said of current football activities. “Just being focused and not letting the pandemic distract us from the standards we originally had when we left on spring break.”
Berry believes the 14-day quarantine, routine testing and education are keys to transforming the Naval Academy into a “true bubble.”
“We have a unique situation here at the academy in which our [student-athletes] are truly locked in,” he said.
Niumatalolo seconded that assessment: “Being on a military installation helps; our campus is surrounded by a wall with gates and guards. Here, the bubble is literal.”
Education is key
Berry considers education the critical component, and the athletic training staff, which numbers 16 full- or part-time personnel, is always preaching safety protocols and best practices to everyone involved with the Navy football program.
“We pride ourselves on being the most disciplined team in the country,” Niumatalolo said. “This is when we have to stay disciplined: wear your mask when you’re supposed to do so, maintain your social distancing. “Hopefully, some of the discipline of the Naval Academy will allow us to stay intact as a team.”
All the precautions in the world cannot prevent someone in the Navy football program from contracting coronavirus. Berry said that is when protocols established by the Naval Academy medical task force, based off U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, come into play.
“It’s how you handle those people that show symptoms or test positive,” Berry said. “We have a very strict procedure in place.
“If you trust in those things that have been provided by us, we should have the best outcomes we can possibly have.”
Navy’s medical staff is performing daily symptom screening using infrared nontouch thermometers. Players are issued a wristband indicating they have been cleared to work out.
In accordance with NCAA guidelines, weekly “surveillance” testing of players, coaches and support staff is being conducted. Members of the athletic training staff working with football players rehabilitating or recovering from injuries utilize a complete repertoire of personal protective equipment.
All the various measures put in place have given the players confidence they will be protected.
“I’m blessed that we have the resources available to continue to work out and practice,” said senior slotback Myles Fells, acknowledging the players are at the front lines of following all the restrictions.
Said Kinley: “I’m thankful our coaches and staff are putting us through these procedures because it allows me to feel more comfortable out there. I have no worries because of all the measures in place. I think we’re taking the right steps to make sure we don’t have any [positive] cases.”