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Masks mandates major change for athletes, coaches

14 min read
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Eleanor Bailey/For the Observer-Reporter

Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell lowers his face mask to yell instructions to players on the court.

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Rob Burchianti/For the Observer-Reporter

Laurel Highlands coach Rick Hauger, middle, talks to his players during a timeout in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal playoff game against Penn Hills at Harold “Horse” Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. All coaches throughout the WPIAL were required to wear face covering this year, even if players were not.

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Holly Tonini/For the Observer-Reporter

Even the officials are required to wear face masks when working WPIAL basketball games during the 2020-21 season.

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Eleanor Bailey/For the Observer-Reporter

Chartiers Valley’s Aislin Malcolm drives to the basket during action this winter.

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Eleanor Bailey/For the Observer-Reporter

Peters Township’s Gavin Cote drives to the basket during boys basketball action last season against Mt. Lebanon.

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Rob Burchianti/For the Observer-Reporter

Brownsville’s Melanie Shumar prepares to shoot as Waynesburg Central’s Brenna Benke (21) defends. Some schools required their athletes to wear face covering this year while others did not.

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Eleanor Bailey/For the Observer-Reporter

Aaron Brula (00) of Peters Township protects the ball while Michael Pfeuffer (12) of Mt. Lebanon charges past on defense. The Indians and the Blue Devils adopted face mask mandates this winter for all participants in scholastic sports. They also did not engage teams that did not wear face masks. However, but schools have agreed to compete in post-season action and could face teams that do not require masks to be employed while actively playing.

Jugs of hand sanitizer sit atop a folding table. Stationed six feet away is a person seated in front of a cashbox. The attendant checks temperatures and scratches names off a list. The guests, mainly parents, toss admission passes into a cardboard box before entering the gymnasium for the evening’s event. Everyone inside, including the participants, wears face coverings.

Welcome to the new world of scholastic sports.

Since the global pandemic struck in mid-March of 2020, school districts have adopted plans, designed by their boards, to allow for a safe Return-To-Play for their athletic teams and recreation programs. These proposals adhere to all the protocols and guidelines emphasized by the local and state health departments as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For many schools this means washing hands more often, frequently sanitizing shared objects, like basketballs and other equipment, as well as taking timed breaks during practices to ensure social distancing. There are no Gatorade coolers. Each athlete supplies his or her own water bottles for hydration. And no food is permitted on buses for away trips.

According to Peters Township High School athletic director Brian Geyer, these strategies help reduce the risk of interruption in the action. However, he says that the biggest changes regarding the scholastic sports scene since the arrival of COVID-19 is a combination of mask requirements and lack of fans in the stands.

“Whether indoor or outdoor, having spectators at events is a large part of the experience of playing sports,” said Geyer. “Student-athletes miss not having fans in the gym, especially for games against big rivals. Gyms would be packed then.

“Our kids have done whatever it takes to have their seasons. They have done an excellent job of doing what we asked them to do so they could have an opportunity to play.”

While the WPIAL did not require athletes to wear face coverings during competition, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association – the state’s high school sports governing body – deemed them necessary for postseason competition.

Many schools mandated their winter sports teams comply to this mitigation action. Some schools even stipulated that they only play against opponents who also wear face masks.

Peters Township is one such school adhering to both. Boys basketball coach Joe Urmann is pleased with the Indians’ compliance this winter.

“The guys have been fantastic about the COVID protocols,” he said. “They followed our plan and made no excuses because they just wanted a chance to play. The kids have been fine with (masks). I give them a ton of credit.”

Heavy breathing

Playing a sport, particularly basketball, can be challenging when one’s face is covered by fabric.

As a youth, Tim McConnell found it virtually impossible. In the winter, he wore a ski mask for his outdoor training runs during his basketball playing days at Seton LaSalle High School and Waynesburg University.

“I didn’t like it,” McConnell said of the face protection. “It wasn’t comfortable.”

McConnell played on the Rebels’ 1982 WPIAL championship club and PIAA state runner-up team. He captained the Yellow Jackets to the NAIA tournament. He still holds game and season records for assists at the university.

After coaching boys basketball at Chartiers Valley High School for 25 years and amassing more than 500 victories, McConnell currently coaches the Colts girls, who are two-time WPIAL champions. They were PIAA state runners-up in 2019 and 27-0 in 2020 when the PIAA canceled its tournament because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“What my girls are doing now is tougher,” McConnell said of CV’s mask requirement while playing. “It’s very hard to do. I’m proud of them. I give them a lot of credit because I don’t know if I could exert myself like that and still be able to breathe.

“When I think about my playing days and some of my training methods, I know it’s very difficult to have anything around or on your mouth when you are trying to exercise and still be able to maintain a free flow of air.”

McConnell sees the toll it has taken on his players.

“Sometimes the girls will have to step off the court and catch their breath. Or, they may have to take their mask down to catch their breath more quickly.”

Aislin Malcolm, a Pitt recruit, and Peri Page, a Columbia commit, acknowledge playing basketball while wearing a face mask isn’t easy. The juniors, however, have adapted.

“It was brutal in the beginning,” said Page, whose father, Julius, scored 1,512 career points at Pitt. “Playing with a mask is hard.”

Page added that it took time to find a comfortable mask to wear. She tried different types.

Malcolm, too, did a number of experiments before she settled on face masks from Athleta. She settled on the cotton-fabric variety because it featured adjustable bands for the earlobes and a wire around the bridge of the nose, providing a close fit.

“It’s not awful,” Malcolm said of playing basketball while masked, “but they are tough to keep on your face. Since I’ve practiced with mine on, I feel like for me, that I have gotten used to them.

“The biggest negative is that while I see why we are doing this, usually when two teams are playing the masks fall down so it’s like playing without a mask,” Malcolm continued. “Is it effective? Sure. It helps reduce the spread of the virus. That’s the positive. Just protecting everyone.”

Malcolm though admitted, “I will be glad when we don’t have to wear them anymore.”

Brownsville girls coach Patty Coumbia said it took some time for her players to get used to wearing masks.

“At first, it was an adjustment. I remember when we played at Monessen, we wore them but they didn’t and the girls were complaining a little bit. They didn’t understand why they had to and some other teams didn’t, but we told them it was mandatory to do so by our school district,” she said.

“Some of the girls did struggle with keeping them up and we had to remind them here and there. Sometimes I could see they would pull them down just to get some air, and I noticed some of our players needed more breaks than they did in the past.”

“After the first couple games I really think for the most part they got used to it. I don’t really think it affected them a whole lot after a while.”

McConnell says he doesn’t think it’s a good thing for athletes who are playing to be wearing masks. He does advocate for players on the bench as well as coaches to be required to have their nose and mouth covered.

“In some districts doctors are saying it’s dangerous. Others say differently. There’s two different opinions. But we are doing what we have to do in order to play our games.”

Pick and choose

Unlike Peters Township, Chartiers Valley plays all opponents, those with face mask mandates as well as those without.

To be eligible to compete in the WPIAL playoffs teams had to agree to play either opponents. Many of the squads that had mask rules during the regular season decided to enter the open tournament but continued to don face coverings.

“What I find interesting is seeing what teams are doing now. Why was it all right not to play certain teams during the season but it’s OK now?” McConnell said. “What’s changed? It doesn’t seem right to me why you would allow that now.”

McConnell said he’s not complaining, just trying to understand the rationale behind the pivot made by some school boards to allow their teams to participate in the tournament. Regardless, he is happy everybody had an opportunity to play sports this winter.

“Everybody’s just doing what we have to do to have a season,” he said.

While teams that have adopted mask rules have had difficulty keeping their faces covered during competition, Geyer feels the mandate has worked. He says masks are dropped “accidentally” because of contact or in order to “catch a breath” and then it’s not for a long period of time.

The practice is not intentional, Geyer says, and while he cannot document success, he believes the mitigation method has worked.

“Is it perfect? Probably not,” Geyer said. “If it makes a difference and we are able to help kids and families not get COVID, then it does make a difference.

“Obviously, I do not have data to support it, but I would hope (wearing masks) is protecting our athletes. It’s important to keep the community safe. We will continue with the requirement as long as government and health professionals mandate it. We will protect our kids and do what is best for them.”

Best results

During the fall months, Peters Township enjoyed tremendous success while sticking to COVID-19 stipulations. They had five teams compete in WPIAL championships in football, field hockey, boys soccer and boys and girls golf. The Indians produced one winner and three runners-up.

At the time, PT permitted its athletes to physically compete while unmasked. Even the girls on the volleyball team did not have to comply to wearing face coverings while they competed.

According to Geyer, when the universal mask mandate was ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration as a mitigation effort for coronavirus spread, Peters Township adjusted its policy to comply. He said the measure added a layer to the health and safety plan for winter sports.

“In the fall, the universal mask rule in Pennsylvania was not there at the time but when it changed, we adopted that but we also felt we had a good plan in place that adopted much of the same language the PIAA had. We were successful in the fall because we had the benefit of everything mostly being outdoors.

“Winter was the trickiest because everything was all indoors and the cold weather prohibits outdoors activities and also prevents you from opening doors to allow for ventilation like we did during the volleyball season.

“Winter may have given us our most concerns, but the best thing is that spring is coming. I like the idea of moving back outside.”

Geyer says it’s hard to predict if mask mandates for athletes will remain the new normal because “Dr. (Anthony) Fauci has not given anybody an end date,” but he’s certain safety requirements will stick through the rest of the school year if not the calendar year.

“When we all started this last year, we were in the middle of the PIAA playoffs and there were a lot of unknowns then. We know so much more now. Cases are trending down and vaccinations are occurring so I hope we are getting back to a new normal and not uncharted territory.”

The coronavirus pandemic has not just changed how athletes compete, it has also altered their academic and practice landscape.

Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends practicing social distancing of up to six feet as well as a time limit on interaction, sports workouts now feature more built-in breaks during practices. 

For example, teams may work on a timed drill then disperse from each other. Some take water breaks. Some shoot free throws. Others do lay-ups

”We’re not supposed to be in close contact for more than 15 minutes,” explained Tim McConnell, a WPIAL Hall of Fame basketball coach who played at Waynesburg University.

McConnell added it’s different when actually playing a basketball game. For example, he noted that one player is not guarding someone for 15 straight minutes. 

”With basketball you are not as near to the same person as you are in wrestling. That would be tough because wrestlers are right there next to each other and on top of one another.”

While wrestlers engage for three separate, two-minute periods and high school basketball games are divided into four, eight-minute quarters with a 10-minute halftime, all scholastic sports during the COVID-19 pandemic have carried on without the subtle shades of sportsmanship. For example, there are no organized handshakes before or after competitions. Teams compete then exit the venue.

”We can wave to each other,” McConnell said. “I guess it limits some contact and you are not touching all those hands. It’s not a bad thing to be safe.”

McConnell’s team plays it safe by attending classes virtually. The option has not hindered two of his standouts. 

Juniors Aislin Malcolm and Perri Page maintain 4.7 and 4.4 GPAs. They have earned basketball scholarships to the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University and will pursue studies in engineering.

”Schooling has changed for athletes,” McConnell said. “They are taking classes virtually because they do not want to take the chance of being in the cafeteria eating and coming into contact with somebody who has been exposed to COVID-19.”

That actually happened to one of McConnell’s players. The freshman was forced to miss the first 14 days of practice because of quarantine requirements. 

”Players want to play and they can’t control what other people are doing. Like being around strangers who are not wearing a mask or attending parties,” said McConell of reasons why athletes have opted for online education.

Stay-at-home learning has impacted socialization even among student athletes. It’s challenging to establish camaraderie as teammates come masked, dressed and ready to play their games.

”Social lives have really changed,” McConnell said. He noted that players can’t can’t hang out in the locker room. “They can’t share things and grow together.”

Additionally, teams can’t play through no fault of their own. Opponents can cancel at a moment’s notice when COVID-19 numbers are released to school officials.

”Night in and night out you were never sure if you would play or not because you’d get a call from your AD saying a team canceled at one o’clock in the afternoon when you were supposed to play. It’s a tough thing not knowing whether you are playing a game or not,” McConnell.

It’s tougher when a team cannot participate in a playoff contest. For example, Upper St. Clair forfeited its WPIAL semifinal field hockey game against Penn-Trafford because of COVID-19 concerns.

”That’s a team’s worst nightmare,” said McConnell. 

Noting that the virus does not discriminate, McConnell added, “That’s why I remind my players to make good decisions. Put the team first and above what you might think is pleasurable. Don’t be that person who puts us in a position to not make it happen,” he said referencing a team’s chance to compete for championships

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