New Mexico coaches divided on face-covering requirement

Santa Fe High girls soccer coach quits, saying requiring face coverings ‘just as dangerous’ as coronavirus

Mask or no mask? It’s a debate that is not confined to going to the grocery store or running errands.

Coaches around the state, especially those whose programs can still conduct summer activities, are debating the value of wearing masks during workouts. It already has impacted some of their decisions whether to continue participating.

Count Max Vargas in the anti-mask group. Capital’s head volleyball coach said he decided to halt workouts only in part because players had to wear masks, which adheres to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s latest health orders. The constant changing of guidelines the New Mexico Activities Association required for workouts — from players not being allowed to share balls, to pods sharing a ball before going back to the original guideline last week — were just as much of an issue as masks.

However, Vargas saw how much his players struggled with the face coverings, and he felt there was diminishing returns on continuing activity.

“It’s just too many changes,” Vargas said. “Too many different guidelines to have to follow.”

The mask issue became such a problem that Santa Fe High head girls soccer coach Alvin Valdez resigned Tuesday. In an email he sent to players and administrators, Valdez wrote that he could “no longer with clear conscience, blindly follow or support the SFPS mission and values” in submitting his resignation. He added that he felt requiring his players to wear masks was “just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than the thing we are trying to protect them from.”

Valdez, who pointed out that he is a certified personal trainer and a Level 1 CrossFit instructor as well as a coach, said in a phone interview with The New Mexican that he has no disagreements with the intent of the order. However, he said he put himself through some of the workouts he demanded of his players and felt the effects a mask had.

“You figure you’re restricting their oxygen intake, at high altitude, at high temperatures and you’re doing high-intensity training,” Valdez said. “Your respiratory system can barely pull in oxygen without a mask, so the mask restricts it more. There is less oxygen to your brain, and that leads to weakness and dizziness.”

He wasn’t alone in those health concerns. Even though the state halted summer workouts for football, Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez expressed concern about players passing out from a lack of oxygen, suffering from heat exhaustion or worse just from two days of activity in masks.

“We all have underlying health conditions that we don’t know we have yet, like heart problems or things like that,” Martinez said. “You think about the worst-case scenario, and at that point, I didn’t want to put them in jeopardy like that.

“And the thing is, it was still [an unpopular decision] with the kids.”

St. Michael’s head boys soccer coach Mike Feldewert stopped his team’s workout schedule July 10, knowing the season was lost for the fall. However, he expressed skepticism about having his team work out in masks. Soccer workouts were ordered to end Monday by order of the Governor’s Office and the NMAA.

“In my mind, it just doesn’t work — not with how hot it is,” Feldewert said.

There is the other side of the argument, however. Joey Fernandez, the head football coach at St. Michael’s, felt that the masks were not as prohibitive as others might think. He said he allowed more recovery time between drills to help his players. While some of them looked a little more tired than usual, he thought the workouts were just as productive as they are without masks.

“They had a little harder time [Monday],” Fernandez said, “but I thought they got through it pretty well.”

Peter Graham, Santa Fe High head cross country coach, said his group of 11 runners had their first workout Monday with the masks, and he did hear some complaints.

“One made constant comments about the mask,” Graham said. “A couple of the kids had the bandanna thing going on. I think that would be a lot more comfortable because it does not close up at your chin.”