School Sports Rise to the Challenge of COVID-19

Greater Atlanta Christian, Wesleyan School and Norcross High School athletes and coaches discuss the changes in school athletics.

Spring was a confusing and chaotic time for J.D. Chipman and his varsity lacrosse team at
Wesleyan School — but some creative improvisation helped.

They had played five games when spring break hit and Coronavirus exploded, scuttling both the rest of the school year and their schedule.

“We had an old raggedy goal in my neighborhood,” said the senior, who is playing middle linebacker and running back on the football squad this fall. “We used zip ties and duct tape to fix it up. We took it over to the tennis courts after tennis was done for the night and we would do shooting drills for hours at a time.”

This fall, things are a lot more organized for athletes at three schools serving Peachtree Corners — Greater Atlanta Christian, Wesleyan School and Norcross High School.

Having had a summer to prepare, the Georgia High School Association, local school systems, athletic directors and coaches now have firm safety guidelines in hand. The earlier feeling of ‘what do we do now?’ has given way to a sense of determination.

Chipman said of the football season, “We haven’t had to cancel any games and we haven’t had any outbreaks. We’re all together and positive and encouraged and the mood is pretty high at our school.”

And it doesn’t hurt that the football squad had been on a winning streak at press time.

Changes for athletes and coaches

Schools worldwide have had to walk a fine line, both on the field and off. Here’s how Tim Hardy, athletic director and head football coach at Greater Atlanta Christian School sees it: “From the start of the pandemic, our leadership has done a great job of balancing the health and in face shields. Social distancing both there and in the stands, with some spectators masked. An ocean of hand sanitizer. Team meetings and changing in locker rooms done in shifts and at warp speed. Spreading out at practices and during game timeouts. Limitations on attendance depending on anticipated crowds and venue. Temperature checks upon arrival. Athletes sitting out up to two weeks after contact with a positive COVID tester. Thorough cleaning of athletic facilities and gear.

The picture of that universe of restrictions began to assume clarity this summer.

Autumn Clark, a junior and a varsity volleyball player at Greater Atlanta Christian, said the changes hit home for her squad with before-season practice in July. As the new world took shape, “We had occasional workouts with masks, hand sanitizer and temperature checks. (And the coaches would ask) questions like ‘have you been outside of the state’ or have you been among large groups of people?’”

Fast-forward to the fall, and while actual game play hasn’t been affected, things like the smack of a high five and hugs have gone by the wayside. They’re spreading out more during time-outs, Clark said.

She added that daily temperature-taking by her parents and screenings before school and practice have actually spun things in a positive direction for her and her squad mates.

“I see it in the weight room, I see it on the court during practices and I definitely see it in games…a stronger sense of grit and mental toughness due to COVID,” Clark said. “This season has helped me grow as a leader.”

Changes for spectators

Adding to the level of complexity for athletes and spectators: guidelines have changed as more has been learned about the virus and the level of compliance has come into better focus.

“We’re asking people to be patient with us,” said Kirk Barton, athletic director at Norcross High School. “We are flying the plane as we build it.”

For example, said Wesleyan School Athletic Director Lacy Gilbert, they started out allowing 50 seniors to come to football games, then expanded to 65 as they looked at such factors as spacing. They also started allowing more players’ siblings to attend along with parents.

In a further effort to avoid bunching up, they established a home, senior and a visitor gate instead of a one-size-fits-all entrance. As they strive for a balance, she said, “We know everyone is eager to come and support their friends when they can, but they understand this is a different year.”

Greater Atlanta Christian laid out similar guidelines for fall sports. Attendance is limited generally to 20% to 30% capacity and the restrictions are venue-dependent. With a 3,000-seat indoor arena, said Hardy, attendance has not been restricted for volleyball, for example, because the crowds aren’t big enough to be a worry.

He says having families purchase season passes has limited attendance. “You can’t just show up and attend a game at the last minute. It’s a shame but that’s where we are in 2020,” he said.

And echoing Gilbert, he said that keeping an open mind, possessing humility and having a willingness to learn and change has helped as they’ve drawn on the experience of higher authorities and other schools. “If there’s a best practice we didn’t know about yesterday, we’ll put it in and move forward.”

One of those practices involves streaming games on the internet for those barred from the Friday night lights. Wesleyan has expanded its streaming presence beyond varsity games and has added a camera for softball.

Working through it

Coaches say that although sometimes student athletes have to be reminded to mask up or keep their distance, the level of compliance has been high. The bottom line: the players, particularly seniors on their last hurrah, don’t want to see games cancelled or a season cut short. Players trying to showcase their talents for potential scholarship consideration are very much on the same page.

Intangibles and ancillary events have seen some changes as well. Apparently not wanting to take a chance on holding such an event later in the fall, senior softball player Riley Keller at Wesleyan School related how the athletic department held its senior night early in the season. Athletes walked out onto the football field to be honored along with their parents, hear laudatory speeches and have their pictures snapped.

Flipping to the other side of the coin, she said, smaller crowds and less in-person support from loved ones has been disappointing but understandable.

“That’s a big part of the season because fans support you in your game. We’ve only been allowed to have our parents and grandparents and no friends…that’s been a missing piece,” she said.

Working on bonding as a team in the midst of a keep-your-distance pandemic has also posed a challenge. Deymon Fleming Jr., a senior and the quarterback of the varsity football team at Greater Atlanta, framed it thusly:

“You go to school and then you practice two to three hours a day, five days a week after school, and they become like your brothers. We’ve been told to treat team members like brothers and do other things outside the game with them. We still do stuff like that, but you have to take into account how do we do things that are safe.”

For example, the usual senior weekend retreat at a lake house was replaced by a one-day get-together at an aquatic center.

And Chipman at Wesleyan noted that the boisterous horseplay in the locker room has given way to hustling to change in 12 minutes flat.

Still going strong

None of that has greatly impacted participation. Among the schools, only a very small number of students and/or their parents decided not to go out for athletics this fall. And cases where students have had to sit out because of contact with a suspected case of COVID have been rare to non-existent, say officials.

“We have not had an athlete test positive for COVID since summer,” said Barton at Norcross High in late September. And at press time, his was the only school of the trio forced to cancel a football game; that was due to COVID concerns involving scheduled opponent Mill Creek.

Barton also outlined a financial consideration in his operation: football income derived from gate receipts and booster clubs has suffered due to the pandemic and its resultant impacts on attendance and businesses participation. He said in a good year, Norcross High football has brought $125,000 by itself and has served as the financial cash cow carrying other sports.

But in 2020, frugality is the watchword. “This is not the year to go out and spend money on new uniforms,” he asserted.

Still to be finalized at press time were guidelines for winter and spring sports such as basketball, wrestling and baseball. But athletic directors, coaches and players all seem at the ready.

“Anything that throws challenges at you makes you stronger,” said Fleming.