The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
How might winter sports eventually look?
On Monday we learned that the CIAC had a plan for winter sports. On Tuesday we learned that its Board of Control had voted to push everything back a month and a half. If we have learned anything this pandemic year, it’s everything is subject to change.
By Jan. 19, the date the CIAC is now targeting to begin winter sports practices, all these sports’ COVID-19 modifications may look different, if indeed the CIAC plays them: The state Department of Public Health and Department of Economic and Community Development aren’t allowing wrestling right now, for instance.
“We’ll have to see what DPH and the governor’s office feel on those (higherrisk sports for transmitting the novel coronavirus) as we get to the first of the year,” CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini said Tuesday.
The current restrictions and recommendations are expected to be in place until at least Dec. 31. They include modifications like masks on most indoor winter sports.
The CIAC’s winter plan included some details on planned modifications. Some were more detailed than others, some probably needed updating and some probably will need further updating.
Here are a few of the interesting possible adaptations taken from the old, unofficial and now at-leastdelayed CIAC winter plan, subject to change by the time you read this:
⏩ Let’s start by saying you’re showing sportsmanship not by shaking hands this year (with one possible interesting and, when you think about it, not-illogical exception). You’re sanitizing everything possible whenever possible.
And you’re wearing a mask over your nose and mouth unless you’re actively competing, and then maybe even if you are: the Department of Public Health has urged masks for all players in moderate-risk indoor sports like basketball and hockey.
Those two sports had proposed distanced “mask breaks” every four minutes or so of game play.
Gymnastics has a few fascinating possibilities. Virtual meets, where two teams each compete at different times or even different sites, are possible. The guidelines considered possible hub meets, working around the ban on multiteam meets by bringing them in two at a time at the same site over the course of the day, combining scores later. There’s even the possibility of video meets, where teams film themselves and send the video to judges.
But since it’s a sport that has judges, the guidelines say that the same judge should judge both teams.
(Unique among these sports’ guidelines, then, gymnastics’ has an “IMPORTANT NOTE ON ETHICS”: no deleting your first try at your video meet and sending a do-over.)
The guidelines struck a cautious note on wearing face coverings while competing, worried that a loose mask in midair might be a distraction that could lead to injury.
The guidelines also suggest a list of contents for gymnasts’ gym bags: a bottle of drinking water, a spray bottle of water, a plastic bag for your mask, hand sanitizer of your own, disinfectant wipes for your feet before a routine... and a container to collect your own chalk.
“Remove common chalk bowls,” the guidelines say. “Chalk bowls frequently become talking places for athletes.”
After up to six minutes of grappling, the wrestling guidelines suggested a handshake between competitors wasn’t inappropriate. But instead of raising the winner’s hand, the referee would point to the victor, who’d raise his own hand. (And if there wasn’t a winner, there’d be no overtime and no team points awarded.)
Wrestlers could compete only twice a week, and there’d be no more than 20 matches permitted at a dual meet, allowing a few JV matches.
Boys swimming, unique among the winter sports, has a fall counterpart: The girls completed their season, getting used to oddities like virtual meets, where teams swim their events separately and compare times to determine team results. The guidelines suggest a spillover area away from the pool for those not actively competing for added distance.
With no locker rooms open, home teams are urged to give visitors a (well-ventilated, clean) place to change out of wet swimsuits before the cold drive home.
And divers won’t be allowed to use hot tubs to stay warm between dives.
In hockey, players are urged not to remove their mouthguards, which should be attached to the cage of their helmets, while they’re on the ice. If a player does take the mouthguard out at the bench, he should use hand sanitizer.
There’d be a lot of sanitizing in indoor track, too: sanitize the starting blocks after each heat, sanitize the throwing implements between uses if they’re shared (it’s suggested athletes bring their own). High jumpers and pole vaulters were expected to bring their own tarp for their landing area, then sanitize it after every jump.
Relay runners would have to wear gloves, and races would be limited to 10 runners if they weren’t in lanes.
Basketball guidelines suggest moving the scorer’s table back, allowing more room for substitutes to spread out after checking in. They also suggest adding chairs to the bench, or even more rows of chairs, where possible.
The familiar handoff from a referee to a player before a throw-in is endangered, too. A ref can back off six feet from the inbounder and bounce the ball to her.