Athletic Training Gets a Different Look in Fall 2020

By Dorian Alerte| Published by 12/22/2020

With Covid-19 continuing to run through the United States, many athletes and schools are trying to find different ways to train.

Nick Graff, the strength and condition coach, was prepared for there to be a different but effective approach to training and working out for student athletes in this uncertain time.

“My plan is to treat everyone the same, as if they are a brand new leaf,” Graff said. “So the training is going to be progressive. We’re starting from square one and getting an idea of what these guys can and can not do.”

When the pandemic began to hit the United States, many universities were shut down and all sports were cancelled. When this happened many student athletes were in the middle of their seasons and some in their off seasons. Without team workouts many students did not have a proper offseason to condition themselves. However, Graff had a plan.

“The main thing I did during quarantine was send out a packet of exercises they could do with limited equipment,” Graff said. “A lot of it was just movement based, just because they might get detrained slightly, but there’s not a huge gap. But you still don’t know so we’re starting from square one and mainly just training their heart, elevating their heart rate progressively week in and week out.”

The plan that was completed involved athletes to have seven weeks of conditioning with the coaching staff.

“After that seven weeks then they’re home and the main thing is educating them on what they can do at home physically, nutritionally, and mentally,” Graff said.

The athletic department had a system in place for students to have to sign in in order for them to use the football field as an open space to do their workouts. With the field available, they have come up with new ways to workout.

These workouts were socially distanced and done in several different circuits.

“Usually we’d have more padded workouts, and workouts that have to do more with football, but right now it’s really just conditioning and strength training,” freshman kicker Aidan Porter said. “We did a circuit that was about an hour and we were split up into small groups with 30 second rotations and you do it three or four times.”

The workouts changed from day to day so that the athletes that come to the sessions do not do the same type of exercise everyday and so they could workout different muscle groups.

Training and working out had a totally different look in the Fall 2020 semester, but the plan seemed to be work overall.

“So far, so good,” Graff said. “The athletes are going to be tested weekly and there’s going to be screenings daily. They have to do the Campus Clear, they have to do the temperature check, and pulse oximeter. Then there’s going to be a different color wristband that you have to wear per day. All the procedures are in place and all the guidelines so everything is looking good. I know it’s early now, but everything should be fine.”

---