A look at how return will be
Strict social distancing, sanitizing protocols in place for athletes’ return to campus
A new system for screening, cleaning and social distancing awaits athletes.
For 77 days, the University of Houston’s Athletics-Alumni Center has been a ghost town.
Doors locked. Locker rooms empty. Nothing but silence. Only a dozen or so essential workers have access to the headquarters of the University of Houston athletic department.
On March 16, UH joined schools across the nation in shutting down facilities in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which for nearly three months has altered the global sports landscape.
Beginning Monday, for the first time since the shutdown, certain athletes will be allowed inside the Athletics-Alumni Center for voluntary workouts.
They will be greeted with a different type of playbook that emphasizes contact-free facilities, social distancing and the use of personal protective equipment like masks and gloves.
“We’re ready for this,” said T.J. Meagher, UH’s senior associate athletic director for capital projects. “We are doing everything we can to keep our people safe. Our new normal has just changed. We have to get used to that.”
How things go in the first phase — not just at UH but across the nation — will offer insight into when a larger group of athletes can return to campus.
“The biggest challenge was not creating a plan,” Meagher said. “It was creating a plan that was relevant 24 hours later.”
The Chronicle was granted exclusive access to go behind the scenes for a walk-through of what the school’s athletes can expect on the return to facilities.
Controlled access
On a recent Friday afternoon, the sliding glass entrance to the Athletics-Alumni Center is closed. Access cards have been deactivated. There is only one entrance and one separate exit. Meagher said “you have to be on the list” to gain access.
For the initial phase, the list will consist of members of the football and men’s and women’s basketball teams, as the NCAA lifts a nationwide ban on on-campus athletic activities. A decision when to bring back other fall sports like volleyball, soccer and cross country will be made later in the summer.
At each facility, players are assigned times to show up for voluntary workouts. Miss your specific time, and you will not be granted access to the building. Group size is limited, usually no more than 16 at a time for football and about three per group for basketball. Although the men’s and women’s basketball programs have dedicated sides at the Guy V. Lewis Development Facility, they will work out at different times of the day to avoid crossover.
The staggered times are designed to “keep groups more manageable,” said Meagher, who has been tasked with developing a reopening plan for the athletic department.
“You can’t just come and go as you want,” Meagher said. “We are giving them times and telling them when to come. After that, it’s voluntary for them to show up and participate.”
Once in the building, players are subjected to a strict, step-bystep health-and-safety protocol — designed by the university in conjunction with local and national medical experts — to protect from a potential spread of COVID-19, which has resulted in more than 17,000 confirmed cases and 347 deaths in Houston.
“The health of our student-athletes and staff will continue to be our top priority as we implement this phased approach,” athletic director Chris Pezman said.
Not long after the COVID-19 shutdown in mid-March canceled spring sports seasons, including the NCAA Tournament, UH president Renu Khator formed a task force to develop a strategy on how to open facilities and operations in stages. Since then, Meagher said UH’s athletic department has put together “still evolving” procedures that change frequently as coronavirus information becomes available.
In preparation for the return of players, there has been multiple walk-throughs and dry runs “to see what we missed” and tweaks “to figure out what helps,” Meagher said.
An arrow taped to the floor in the lobby points in the direction of the Cougar Den, once a firstfloor hangout with flat-screen televisions, study areas and round tables used for team meals. Beginning this week, the area has been converted into a check-in zone for players who arrive for workouts.
Brad Newton, associate director of sports medicine for the football program, conducts non-contact temperature checks. Anything above 100.2 degrees, the current guideline set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a player immediately is put into isolation, evaluated by team doctors and quarantined until test results come back, usually within a day. UH plans to test only players that show symptoms.
Next comes a series of questions. Through a tool on phones, players will have answered the questionnaire each day before ever stepping in the building.
Have you had a headache in the last day?
Any recent on-site coughing? Sore throat or shortness of breath?
Fatigue?
Loss of taste or smell?
“You are assumed to be ‘Nos’ when you walk in the door,” Newton said. “It’s a double-check to make sure that we didn’t miss anything.”
Virus-free haven
A nearby table features the latest addition to UH’s defense against the coronavirus. Known as the RAZOR, the powerful fogging machine coats heavily trafficked areas such as weight rooms, locker room and training areas with a substance that can protect for up to 90 days. It has one purpose.
“To kill a virus,” Meagher said. The RAZOR is one of several disinfectants being deployed to turn UH’s facilities into a virusfree haven.
“It’s sort of a belt-and-suspenders idea,” Meagher said. “Part of a multi-layered approach to keep the facility as clean as possible. Truthfully, there’s a difference between clean and sanitized. We’re really focusing on sanitization more than anything else.”
Twenty-seven hand sanitizers were added in the last week. The athletic department purchased 750 washable masks (three per athlete) and 1,000 disposable masks. Messages, featuring the school’s mascot Shasta, are plastered on walls throughout facilities, with reminders of entrance points and to wear masks. All department staff members carry a red microfiber towel that is saturated in a disinfectant to wipe down any surfaces they may touch.
Doors are open to eliminate the need to touch surfaces.
Once used for team meetings, the Carl Lewis Auditorium has been turned into a makeshift dressing area. From there, players follow arrows on the floor to the Yeoman Fieldhouse, where the nutrition staff is set up for a preworkout snack. Gone are the tables of fruit. Now players are given grab-and-go packaged food.
Nearby are aluminum bleachers with yellow Xs spaced six feet apart, yet another social distance reminder.
“It’s something we need to refer to,” Meagher said. “It’s not something people are used to. As many references we can give, I think it’s the best thing we can do on top of education.”
A new weight plan
At any given time, UH officials anticipate a maximum 16 football players to be in the alumni center or indoor football facility. That number will be considerably smaller for the basketball teams. While the workouts are voluntary, many players are expected to return to participate this week, the exception some newcomers who will not arrive until late June.
Meagher refers to the continuous forward movement as a human “car wash,” as players move from station to station without any detours. That allows for staff to begin cleaning for the next group.
“Part of the method here is we don’t backtrack,” Meagher said. “We constantly move in a circuitous route to get out of the building and never retrace our steps.”
As players arrive in the weight room, they check in with one of four strength and conditioning staff members and are assigned a platform. They grab a red microfiber towel and bottle of disinfectant to be used to wipe down the bench, bar and weights before and after the workout.
The 15,000-foot workout space has been altered, from 32 to 16 platforms, to minimize the number of people in the area at the same time. Each station is at least 18 feet apart, and players work out solo with an emphasis on manageable weight — particularly with many not having equipment available the past 2½ months — to eliminate the need for assistance from a spotter. Masks are not required during workouts.
To utilize space, portable weight racks have been installed at the indoor football facility, located next door to TDECU Stadium.
Towels are not to be shared. Those gallon water jugs that players used to carry? Replaced by disposable water bottles.
Quarterbacks and every basketball player will be assigned two balls to use that will be turned in and disinfected at the end of every workout. Quarterbacks and wide receivers are preassigned groups, which allows for contact tracing in the event a player develops symptoms.
Academic and rehab areas are by appointment-only and require an escort.
While stringent measures have been taken by the school, athletes will be responsible for taking precautions when not on campus.
Exit strategy
As workouts conclude, players exit a back door to outside and reenter the locker room through a side entrance.
No showers are allowed. Once in the locker room, players have anywhere from three to five minutes to change back into street clothes — in a backpack they have carried the entire time — in specific areas, again marked by a bright yellow X. There is no access to personal lockers.
“I’ll be in here and encourage them to keep moving,” said Dan Matthiesen, UH’s assistant athletic director for equipment operations.
In addition to specific disinfectants used for the coronavirus, Matthiesen takes an additional step by cleaning the locker room similar to the season.
“We’re dotting every I and crossing every T,” he said.
Outside the locker room, a grab-and-go meal awaits.
The day wraps up as players exit a red door.
Then it’s time to start the process all over again.