Upcoming games
It is no surprise that ‘Covid’ is the top word of 2020 according to the Global Language Monitor, an American data-research company that tracks things like that. The word ‘quarantine’ is also in the top 20 and, unfortunately, has been heard too often already by basketball coaches.
It’s obvious that games get postponed or canceled once a team goes into quarantine after being informed of a COVID case or through contact tracing, but what does that really mean? Do the players sit on their couch for two weeks? Are there practices for those not affected? Does time stand still? And like the virus itself, the quarantine protocol can be a little different for each team.
Here are the responses from some area coaches who are currently going through this or are just now back to playing games.
What does your team do during ‘quarantine’? Can you have practices with those players not quarantining?
John Glenn boys coach Travis Hannah: We are currently not allowed to practice while quarantined. We have done a few Google meets to keep kids updated on schedule changes and any other info they need. We have also done some individual meetings with our varsity guys just to reaffirm roles, talk about past performances, and what we need moving forward.
Laville boys coach michael Edison: We are to be at our house away from other people and that is what we do. We do not practice or hang out with others.
Bremen girls coach alex Robinson: We really used quarantine as kind of a mental break after the first three weeks of longer practices and only getting in one game before being shut down. We took some time as coaches to plan and get everything organized. Our girls were staggered on their return, so we started with six girls at practice, then got to 10 a few days later and then after another few days, we were up to our full roster.
Triton girls coach adam Heckaman: We had two players and an assistant coach exposed and our team is so small that it was ‘close contact’ with everybody. We found out at school and we all were sent home. Everybody stayed home for 14 days. We couldn’t practice for the 14 days.
If you do practice still, how are they different?
Edison: Currently, some coaches and most of our team is quarantined, but for the two players that are not, I have about an hour workout with them after school.
Robinson: Our first couple of practices were more like shootarounds to get everyone moving again and used to having a basketball in their hands. You can lose a lot in two weeks off. We have 15 girls total, so we always practice with everyone together. As long as we’ve had 10, we treat it like a normal practice with typical drills and 5 on 5.
What are the guidelines once you hear your team is put on quarantine?
Hannah: Once we found out about our quarantine, I worked with administrators to determine time frames for those affected and then met with everyone in our program to inform and chart a course moving forward. We will need to have five practices in before we play our next contest, so we feel that we have some time to go over scouting reports, game film, etc…
Edison: We adhere to whatever our school nurse, who is advised by the health department, asks us to do, which is “stay home and quarantine yourself away from others.”
Robinson: Most of our girls were out for 14 days due to contact tracing in the school. We had 3 or 4 separate instances of contact tracing, which resulted in different groups of girls returning at different times. We have also had a few positive cases within the program, which have resulted in 10 days off since the time of showing symptoms.
Heckaman: We got together again before Thanksgiving and were able to practice
again, but you have to have five in before we could play again. That’s the unfortunate thing. It’s like starting the season all over again.
What is the current status at school right now? In person or remotely?
Hannah: Our high school is currently doing virtual learning.
Edison: We are in-person right now, but by the time you print this article we very likely could be virtual. This can change in a moment’s notice.
Robinson: After Thanksgiving, we returned to school after a short time of virtual learning. We have almost everyone in-person, with a few who have chosen to remain home through the virtual learning option.
Heckaman: The high school had so many close contacts that it went virtual the next week (after the team was quarantined) so our girls weren’t missing in-person school because no one was at school.
Do you think Christmas break will create a kind of bubble for your team to avoid Covid or just the opposite?
Hannah: I am personally not sure you can create a bubble in high school. For example, we have a positive test so, unfortunately, it affects another school who had no previous issues, shutting them down for two weeks. This is and has been very common so far this season and something that is going to happen to everyone and maybe multiple times. So there is obviously a risk each time you play a game.
Edison: I really do not know what to expect. Everything I thought I knew I have figured out that I was mistaken. In the last several months I have learned to expect the unexpected.
Robinson: I think most people will be responsible with the time off. We have been going through this for so long now, and I think people understand the consequences, especially when you are part of a team.
How has your planning changed through all of this?
Hannah: Planning for us is literally week to week if not day to day. We have been able to reschedule all of our games, but that is going to create a lot of long weeks in the months of January and February where we have stretches of three games in seven days. On top of that, we have not had a lot of practice time. School and routines are different for everyone. So, we have not pushed kids real hard through this as we are trying to get everyone into some sort of “normal” and navigate our way so that we can give the kids an opportunity to play.
Edison: I just try to be as flexible as possible and take things in stride as things change daily.
Robinson: The biggest thing is not taking any time that you have with the team, or on the court, for granted. Everyone is aware of how quickly things can change. When it comes to planning, we just have to be flexible, but we understood that coming into the season. We will also be moving our Senior Night up to make sure our two seniors get proper recognition.
Heckaman: We’ve come to the conclusion that if one kid tests positive, we’ll be back in quarantine.