In a step toward fully reopening college life following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Indiana University is inviting fall sports athletes back to campus with a cautionary approach.
“We cannot totally eliminate the risk,” said Fred Glass, vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics for IU. “At least until there is a vaccine, there will be risk. What we can do is have the best doctors give us protocols and make sure they are strictly followed. That’s what we’ve done and what we are going to do.”
Beginning June 15, athletes on the Hoosier football, women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s soccer, field hockey and cross country teams will be arrive on a staggered basis into August for voluntary workouts.
Members of the football team have been cleared to begin arriving in Bloomington on Monday and Tuesday in alternating groups and will be the first team working out. They will be given coronavirus tests, quarantined and presented with educational material about the safety rules and advice on how to stay healthy.
Football coach Tom Allen, saddened last weekend when he learned of the shooting death of former IU player and supporter Chris Beaty, revisited that topic Wednesday as well as the Black Lives Matter protests around the country, something he had already forcefully emotionally addressed.
He spoke of the trying times of recent months when Hoosiers could only communicate with coaches through Zoom meetings and how happy he will be to greet them in person.
“I can’t want to see them,” Allen said. “It has just been so long.”
College spring sports were halted in March as the United States adopted a massive quarantine policy to fight COVID-19.
Allen said he doesn’t know whether to offer his guys fist bumps or elbow bumps.
“Whatever the protocol is,” he said. “In the initial phases, we can social distance.”
Indiana is operating under a five-stage reopening guideline established by Gov. Eric Holcomb, which as of June 14 allows for somewhat more mingling in public.
The school created an IU Athletics Medical Advisory Group to provide advice to administrators. The university’s chief medical officer, Dr. Andy Hipskind, is a member of the group, and plans were described as Phase 1 of reopening at the school.
Athletes will be required to have a daily medical check and follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Athletes must sign pledge forms indicating they will follow the rules.
“There will be testing,” Hipskind said.
He also predicted 25 to 50% of individuals tested will produce results indicating they are asymptomatic positives.
“This is like coaching a new sport that has never been invented,” Hipskind said. “A lot of this is evolving. There is some risk tolerance to this.”
No guarantees are being made even the most restrictive protocols will keep athletes from growing sick with the virus. Allen said he has been in contact with players and their families about returning in this environment.
“No one has said, ‘We don’t want our son coming back,’” he said. “Concerns, for sure.”