Remember when we could simply walk into the football stadium and see a packed crowd on a Friday night, or go buy a hot dog from the concession stand at intermission in a soccer game? Today, everywhere we go, we are temp-checked and asked about our contact with other people. 

A question a lot of people have asked recently has been, “how are sports going to do it”? We can look at professional sports, which have taken the bubble approach like the NBA and the NHL, or the higher risk option of just resuming play like MLB. 

The nice thing about high school sports is that the players don’t need to be kept in a bubble, but it is also scary that they aren’t. So, heading into the fall season, Saint Louis U. High’s four fall sports teams—soccer, football, cross country, and swimming and diving—are adjusting to meet the requirements needed to mitigate risk of exposure for the season(s) that lie ahead (we hope). 

In response to the pandemic, a Saint Louis-specific group called the Sports Medicine Task force, composed of health experts from BJC Healthcare, Mercy Health Systems, and SSM Health, has worked to compose a set of regulations that will allow for the return of both youth and high school sports this fall. This group, while heavily influential in the decision to start competition, does not have jurisdiction over the permissions needed to move towards a season; those permissions will be granted by the Department of Health. 

The Sports Medicine Task Force started by categorizing the four major fall sports by their risk level, with sports like football and soccer being classified as “high frequency” because of their high rate of contact. Cross country, along with swimming and diving have been classified as “low frequency” sports. 

Every sport, regardless of their classifications, all have required phases that they have to complete before local competition can begin again.  For each classification, there are six phases. The first phase allows for just 10 coaches and athletes in total to meet, and masks have to be worn at all times with the exception being the occurrence of “vigorous physical contact.” 

The second phase allows for 20 athletes and coaches (in total) to be present at practice. For high frequency sports like football and soccer, phase two enables limited practices that can include contact-heavy drills. For low frequency sports, Phase 2 enables full practices, scrimmages, and competitions against other teams located in the St. Louis region. 

Phase 3 will enable the low frequency sports to resume competition, but the high frequency  sports will have to wait until they’ve completed their fifth phase. The only difference between the changes that will take place between the high frequency and low frequency sports in the progression through the phases is that the low frequency sports will be progressing at a much faster rate, with each new phase allowing for a rapid return. For high frequency sports, the changes will be much slower and more cautious. 

As of today, all four of SLUH’s fall sports programs have initiated (but not completed) the second phase assigned by the Sports Medicine Task Force. Seeing that the low frequency sports like cross country and swimming and diving only have one phase left to complete, it isn’t unreasonable to assume that cross country and swimming might resume local competition prior to football and soccer. 

Initially, the implementation of Phase 1 dealt some of the most restrictive regulations specifically to soccer because they weren’t able to use a ball in practice for the first week. The team has trainers on site for every practice, and three coaches are generally present at varsity practices. The first week of practice consisted of conditioning drills for the team; players worked on long distance, agility, and full body drills. 

“Practicing without a ball was frustrating for me and many others,” said senior Tilahun Murphy. “We just put in any kind of work that we were allowed to.”

The team is not allowed to participate in any kind of scrimmage or game according to Phase 2 rules for high frequency sports. Although scrimmages aren’t possible right now, the implementation of Phase 2 for the soccer team allowed the return of soccer balls to practice, which is a major victory for the players. 

Murphy is optimistic about the progress that the team has made so far. “Slowly, we are getting there, and I’m looking forward to every new step towards our season,” he said.

O’Connell is still very uncertain about the team’s future. “We have no idea when the environment will be appropriate for a tryout at the very least,” he said.

 The new practice style has been challenging for the players, but they’ve tried to make the most of the extra time they have received. 

“It’s been tough,” said senior Jack Rudder. “We mosty run and do core work, but the guys have worked hard through it all.” 

There has been speculation that soccer will start in October if all goes according to plan, but that is by no means set in stone.

 The other high frequency fall sport is football. SLUH’s football is currently practicing under strict rules, but began practicing with less restrictive rules than those that the soccer team has to abide by. 

The biggest difference between the two sports is that the football team was allowed to practice with footballs for the first week on a play-to-play basis, and the team has had to be meticulous about sanitation. After a ball is touched or used, it has to be sanitized before it can be reused. The same goes for any equipment that is used. 

Also, the football team has spatially distanced out its practice setup, placing the different units that make up the team in different corners of the field (the offensive line is practicing in one corner while the linebackers and the defensive backs do drills in another corner, for example). The football team, like soccer, has members of the training staff on site at all times, and hasn’t had any scares yet. 

When asked about the adjusted practice routines, varsity head coach Mike Jones said, “I think we have been doing a pretty good job of making sure our kids are safe and keeping our social distancing and making sure that we can keep playing.”

“Coach Jones and the coaching staff have done a great job of keeping the spirit of the team high through this adversity,” said senior wide receiver Jack Maclelland. “They have continuously said that the team that takes the most advantage of the time they have together during the quarantine is the team that will come out on top in the end.” 

The coaching staff is speculating that the football start date will also be in October, though nothing is certain.

Next on the list for fall sports is cross country, which is classified as a low risk sport because long-distance running doesn’t involve as much physical contact as sports like football or soccer. However, the team is still operating without competing in meets or intrasquad scrimmages, per Phase 2 rules. 

When asked about adjusting to COVID-19, varsity head coach Joe Porter said, “We’re actually doing more than the restrictions that have been put in place for us. Cross Country is listed as a low contact sport so that doesn’t have as many restrictions as soccer or football, where there’s more contact.” 

Even though there isn’t as much physical contact in cross country, Porter is still taking heavy precautions to make sure that the team isn’t going to go out as a whole if one runner catches the virus. “We’re still limiting ourselves to groups of less than 20 at any given time,” said Porter. “This will make it easier for contact tracing, so should someone test positive in one of our training groups, we would shut down the specific group and not the entire team.” 

The impacts of the regulations aren’t strictly physical. 

“There’s definitely a social aspect of practice that guys used to enjoy but that isn’t going to happen here,” noted Porter. “We are trying to be as smart as we can with keeping our groups separate, and encourage the usage of masks when they’re not being active.”

This social distancing quite literally has produced a different feel for the team so far. 

“Group training has taken a bit of adjustment,” said senior Hayden Zenor. “In years past, the whole team would warm up, do drills, and stretch together. Now, we hardly interact with other groups of runners.” 

Since it is considered a low risk sport, cross country will be aiming to start competition in September. 

The last fall sport, swimming and diving, is also considered low risk. The team is, like the other three fall sports programs, in Phase 2. The team is allowed to host full practices, and can have intrasquad scrimmages. The only thing they cannot do is enter local competition, which will begin when Phase 3 is initiated. The team officially started practicing on Aug. 24, and, like cross country, is hoping to begin competition in September. 

Despite swimming and diving being considered a low frequency sport, varsity head coach Lindsey Ehret has had to adapt to a lot of changes that COVID has caused that aren’t within the bounds of the regulations. The obstacles that COVID has brought to the swimming team outside of the regulations have been abundant. 

“We were told that we would not be able to use the Forest Park Community College pool, which is tough on our freshman and sophomores who can’t drive,” said Ehret. “We now have to practice at Villa and Chaminade. Villa’s pool is only a four-lane 20-yard pool, as compared to the six-lane 25-yard pool we’re used to practicing in. It has been particularly challenging because we don’t have our own facility. We have four different practices to accommodate the size of our team.”

When asked about the changes in practice, Ehret mentioned, “Normally, everyone stays at one end, but now we have to spread our swimmers out within each lane. This makes it really hard to communicate because they can’t hear or see me that well and the fact that pools are loud in general only escalates that challenge,” said Ehret. “There’s a lot of policing that goes on from an adult perspective because the kids have to come in wearing masks and have to put them back on after getting out of the water, which just isn’t natural.” There are speculations that swimming hopes to start competing in September, but as with every other sport, these speculations are by no means certain or concrete. 

The world of sports is ever changing, and there are still a ton of uncertainties about the season that lies ahead for each of SLUH’s fall sports programs. Sports are a huge part of the student community, and it is amazing that there is even a chance that they will be back. 

As Kerri Walsh Jenning, a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist for beach volleyball once said, “It’s going to be a journey. It’s not a sprint to get in shape.” SLUH’s sports world is full of uncertainties, but one thing we can be certain about is that coexisting with COVID-19 is going to take time and endurance from our sporting programs.