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Conditioning With a Facemask

Ella Sikma

  • March 17, 2021

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Gahr Cross Country Team Conditioning 

Once upon a time, a team of 25 athletes were  running up and down a warm gym floor at the end of a regular school day. Conditioning was taking place as usual, when the team’s head coach suddenly got an email stating, “schools closed for two weeks due to COVID-19.” The coach then ended practice early and informed his players of the news. As the team is walking out of the gym to the parking lot, the coach says that he would see them in two weeks. But then, those two weeks turn into two months, which compounds into four months, finally leading to absolutely no summer leagues for any sporting teams. This picture is just one of the ways that teams last saw each other.

All high schools have been closed for just about an entire year now, leaving student athletes to stay in shape on their own, and just hope for the possibility of a season. Some athletes adapted quickly to working out and conditioning by themselves. But for many others, finding the self-motivation to work out was challenging, especially when there was no guarantee that their hard work would pay off in a season.

Now, athletes are discovering that conditioning may start as early as the beginning of March.  The school is planning to have a google meets call for all athletes and their parents, covering social-distancing guidelines and state regulations for this return to practices. Afterwards, parents of athletes will have the chance to voice whether or not they wanted their child to participate in conditioning on Gahr’s campus. Conditioning will be optional for all athletes.

In addition to parent approval, each student athlete who wishes to condition with their team will need to register via FamilyID. FamilyID is a free website where parents/guardians will need to upload their child’s physical examinations, and also secure online registration, and payment processing for all school and community programs. The process is very simple and saves any previous information for returning members. FamilyID also alerts you when your submission has been approved. Once athletes have gotten approved on FamilyID, they are to wait for the approval from Gahr.

For Gahr’s girls’ basketball team, Athletic Director Greg Marshall joined the call, along with Varsity Coach Gilcrease, Coach Carl Wilson, and JV and FroshSoft Coach Adria Jackson, to inform their players on what conditioning would look like in the coming month. For starters, the team has chosen to condition at 6 am to 7am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays beginning March 1st.

Conditioning Details

When the players get to campus, they will follow Covid protocols, including taking everyone’s temperatures, and maintaining social distancing. Conditioning will take place with students organized into groups, or “pods,” with a maximum of 14 players per pod. Each pod will be responsible for bringing their own masks, water bottles, and any other personal items.

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Gahr Tennis Conditioning at the new Tennis Courts

Information for Getting On and Off Campus

Mr. Marshall informed during the meeting that athletes were allowed only to enter and exit from the west gate on campus. S.I.A.s will be located throughout the area to supervise and help athletes with reaching their area of conditioning areas.

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For the remainder of the google meets call, Mr. Marshall addressed the importance of masks, and how and when they should be worn. Masks must cover everyone’s nose and mouth at all times, unless at least 10 yards apart from each other. There will be no high fiving - maybe a possible elbow, but that is all. Despite all of these changes, all sports teams were thrilled to hear that conditioning would soon be back up and running!

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