COLUMBUS – Questions still surround the 2020 college football season but players at Ohio State have started getting ready for whatever it may bring.
Athletes in fall sports can begin voluntary workouts in the month of June, starting today, when members of the football team are allowed to return to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
They will be followed by members of the men’s and women’s basketball teams, who report June 15 for voluntary workouts at the Schottenstein Center, and for members of the men’s and women’s soccer teams, field hockey team and women’s volleyball team June 22 at the Schumaker Complex.
What awaits those players will be workout atmosphere unlike any they have encountered before – or are likely to encounter again, due to numerous protocols to protect the health of athletes, coaches and staff amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ohio State COVID-19 Transition Task Force and Safe Campus and Scientific Advisory Subgroup based its requirements on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ohio Department of Health, on-campus partners, the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference.
Players will not be able to use the locker room, showers, players’ lounge or dining area at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Access to the training room will be by appointment only.
Players will dress and undress at their apartments, bring used workout gear back the next day for daily cleaning by the equipment staff and pick up clean workout clothes for the next day and receive food-to-go before leaving the facility.
There will be daily temperature screens and symptom survey checks.
Athletes must observe physical distancing requirements and hand-washing protocols and use appropriate face coverings.
Before attending workouts, athletes will have to undergo a physical examination administered by Ohio State team physicians and athletic trainers and quarantine for 24 to 48 hours or until test results were available.
Education modules and videos are intended to ensure an understanding of safe physical distancing practices, wearing appropriate face coverings, transportation, hand hygiene and cleaning and disinfecting at home.