Lane Community College’s athletic director lays out the school’s plan to bring back sports
The LLC sports department has been doing the best they can do to adhere to Covid-19 regulations, however, they are still fighting an uphill battle. Athletic Director Greg Sheley says they have been following all guidelines that Lane County and the Oregon government have offered.
The Lane County plan to get sports departments back to their typical level of operation is broken down into four color coded phases; grey, red, yellow, and green. Each phase is meant to be a two week block. So, in theory, sports could be operational in six weeks. According to Lane County Health and Human Services, since Sept. 28 there have been 318 new Covid-19 cases with the majority of cases between the ages of 21-30. Sheley expects this plan to last longer than the initial time frame.
The grey phase is two weeks of quarantine; once that is completed teams are allowed to practice with masks on in small groups. The yellow phase permits larger groups to practice at one time, and the green phase will open all non- and semi-contact sports. Full contact sports will still be prohibited from full season competition.
“We are technically in the red phase,” Sheley said. Basketball teams are practicing in groups of six or seven while making sure players practice with their own ball that they don’t share. Outdoor sports are allowed in larger groups; soccer and baseball teams are practicing with slightly larger groups at one time, but social distancing rules are still in effect.
Additionally, Oregon ordinances have been restricting indoor activities more strictly, making basketball teams the most restricted sport at LCC.
Track and field was the only fall sport allowed to reopen for competition, but because the NCAA schools canceled all sports this fall all NWAC schools decided to follow that decision.
Since fall sports teams will not be competing, Sheley expects another six week process will take place after the winter holiday break.
Due to Governor Brown’s orders, teams must respect social distancing rules which makes playing competitive games impossible at this point.
“In the middle of February is when we are supposed to be starting competitions, but if the governor doesn’t change her order then we can’t,” Sheley said.
If Brown’s orders are lifted after the new year the plan is to have a condensed season for multiple sports — if not all of them — from mid February to June. These plans could change at a moment’s notice. The estimates around condensed seasons will become clearer after fall term.
