Golden Bears get approval to begin summer workouts

Concerns that Cal’s football program would get left behind its Pac-12 peers because of local health restrictions were officially sacked on Wednesday, as the Bears announced plans for summer workouts.

The process begins immediately, will unfold in phases and comes just two days after other teams in the Pac-12 opened their athletic facilities following the three-month shutdown.

The Bears’ training and conditioning workouts will be performed outdoors — in Memorial Stadium and on the Maxwell Family Field — and in groups of 10 players, in accordance with orders from Berkeley Public Health officials.

The use of equipment is prohibited, so weightlifting will be added to the routine once health officials sign off.

“We have put a plan in place that provides very specific guidelines and safeguards that will support the health of our student-athletes and staff,” Dr. Lindsay

Huston, Cal’s head team physician, said in a statement.

“It relies on input from some of the top infectious disease experts in the country — from our own School of Public Health and elsewhere — as well as collaborative work with the Pac12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee.

“We are also well-prepared for the possibility that in two weeks, a month, three months, things could look very different, so we will have to continue to adapt and be flexible as conditions change.”

The first step for players upon their return to campus is a seven-day quarantine period. That’s followed by antibody and COVID-19 tests, then a routine physical — all of which should take approximately 10 days.

At that point, the training workouts can begin.

Athletes in other sports will follow football.

The news comes the same day UCLA announced plans to bring football players back to campus beginning June 22.