Planning for the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Updated: Mar 14, 2020
This is a post I've been debating about for the past couple of days...
With all that is happening with COVID-19 I personally want to make sure that all coaches and athletes are utilizing proper decision making.
I personally believe this has been blown way out of proportion, but also want nothing more than for my athletes, fellow coaches, and the general-public to be in good health and overall standing.
The possibilities that track meets will be canceled, and students are asked to stay home grow larger with every passing day.
The NBA, the NHL, MLB, NCAA, and MLS have chosen to suspend their seasons and/or drastically reduce fan attendance for upcoming events.
On top of that (here in Wisconsin) Governor Tony Evers has communicated that any gatherings that exceed 250 attendees should be cancelled to slow the spreading/movement of COVID-19. Most track meets our team attends have well over 250 attendees. We alone have roughly 270 as a team...
So, what are we to do? What should be our steps moving forward?
First, I feel as though we all need to collectively "gather ourselves" and face this with as positive of an outlook as possible. We may miss meets, but our families, athletes, coaching staffs, etc. will (hopefully) be safe due to any bans or cancellations. On top of that, we won't have the constant fear of closely monitoring every athlete/person that coughs or sneezes near us. The anxiety alone might be worth the lost time.
With that said, I'd like to begin a nationwide collaboration on the topic of "What will your athletes be doing at home if school, practice, and/or meets are cancelled?" What will you as a coach communicate to your student athletes that is appropriate for home use? Will you ask that they do drills on their own? Will you ask that they focus on watching film? Practice mental strength?
I want to hear from as many of you as possible! I want us to collaborate on a scale that hasn't been achieved to this point. I ask that you send this post to as many coaches as you know. I ask that you open the survey below and add insightful beliefs/practices that will help others. I ask that you be selfless in your thoughts and think of our sport as a whole, and not just your own personal team.
Please, do all you can to make this a national collaboration that helps our athletes deal appropriately with what is most likely going to be an unprecedented season of question marks and routine-breaking occurrences.
Click the link below to be redirected to a Google Forms survey. Below that, will be the spreadsheet that has responses from other coaches to be used in your own personal situation(s).