Indiana University Athletics announced its plans for the initial but limited return of student-athletes to campus for team workouts throughout the summer, starting next week with the football team.
IU head coach Tom Allen spoke with the media via Zoom for the first time in six weeks Wednesday morning, but it was team physician Andy Hipskind that best summarized the focal point of the discussion.
“I often refer to this as this is like coaching a new sport that’s never been invented,” Hispkind said. “While we continuously scour the science and the literature and the studies we can, a lot of this is just evolving. We’re going to have to make adjustments on the fly.”
Earlier in the presser, Allen described just how different the upcoming workouts would look compared to normal with everything that will go into preventing a COVID-19 outbreak within the program. For example, the team will come back to train in Bloomington in three distinct waves in two-week intervals. Everyone will get tested over a two-day stretch and wait for their results before being cleared to partake in the following week of workouts.
Here are three takeaways from the rest of the media session.
1. The return process, health guidelines are strenuous but necessary
The testing and two-to-three-day quarantine awaiting results the week before workouts is a must, but the intensive measures only start there.
Upon clearance, the student-athletes will be split up into socially-distanced groups of ten for workouts. Whether they’re inside the weight room or outside on one of the fields, the groups won’t be anywhere near each other unlike a traditional practice.
The groups of ten will be strategically put together with COVID-19 in mind. They won't necessarily be organized by position, but rather with their roommate or roommates and based on their summer class schedule.
“The whole idea is that you want to have guys that are together when they leave here, to be together when they workout as best as possible,” Allen said. “There's a lot of work that's gone into this in terms of coordinating the schedule and the groups themselves. Every two weeks we add more players. This first two-week period will basically give us a lot of good feedback.”
Like Hipskind said, Allen reiterated that a lot of decisions will be made on the fly and that the entire process is one big learning experience.
2. Parents involved too, stress concerns of sending children back
It’s been discussed for weeks when student-athletes across the country will be allowed to return to their schools for training and practices, but people seem to forget about their parents and how many of them feel safe sending their children back during the pandemic.
Allen said that very few parents were entirely against the idea of their sons heading back to Bloomington, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t bombarded with questions and concerns from many of them.
Like the student-athletes, their parents have stayed in touch with Allen and his staff over the last several weeks. Allen said he can’t tell them there are zero risks at all in returning to campus, and that they just have to have faith in the precautions in place.
“We've had so many different meetings and just makes you feel good about the high level of preparation that's gone into doing what's best for our student-athletes and keeping them safe,” Allen said.
It’s understandable that parents would be most protective of their children during this hectic time, but they have to believe that IU’s staff is going to do everything possible to keep them safe and healthy.
3. First organized practice since March also first time with Wellman's staff
Aside from all the health regulations and rigorous work required, Allen is curious to see what kind of shape his athletes have stayed in since March.
The staff has been sending workout routines and the players do their best to inform their coaches of their progress, but it really just comes down to trust.
“We have not been able to monitor those in any way officially and so by word of mouth of them just saying I'm continuing to do this,” Allen said. “It's really trusting them, even with their weight. Whether there's somebody behind with their toe on it or whether there's somebody else on the scale I guess who knows.”
June 15 will mark the first time IU has held workouts on campus in over three months, but it’s also going to be the first time the team has ever trained with its new strength staff.
Former Football Director of Athletic Performance David Ballou jumped ship to join Nick Saban and Alabama this offseason, and he was replaced by Aaron Wellman – the strength and conditioning coach of the New York Giants from 2016 through 2019.
Like most teams around the country, it’s probably going to take some time for the Hoosiers to get back to where they once were physically. Every player is going to have to adjust to the change of pace in some way, shape or form, and Wellman’s NFL-caliber staff is guaranteed to push them harder than they’ve been pushed in months.
“What I hope to see is that we'll use this time to grow physically, to grow emotionally,” Allen said. “The amount of work they put in is on them and we're going to find out here pretty soon who has and who hasn't.”
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