A summer day for Clover SC high school athletes in the time of COVID-19
Students stand about 10 feet apart, spaced by the poles under an outdoor awning on a sidewalk.
It’s Wednesday morning at Clover High School, the first of any public school in York, Chester and Lancaster counties to host summer workouts in the “new normal,” COVID-19 era of high school athletics.
By 2 p.m., if everything goes according to plan, every athlete will have endured the socially-distant line, had their temperature checked via digital thermometer, turned in their three filled-out and signed forms, and answered the handful of compulsory questions the school’s athletic trainers will ask.
Then, they will have moved on to their assigned facility to be put through a workout without any sport-specific equipment. Those trying out for the cheer team will have headed to the main gym. Those on the girls’ tennis team will have headed to the courts. And the football players, the 100-plus kids in grades 10-12, will have gone to either one of the two weight rooms or one of two on-campus fields the team was using.
And then — in accordance with the Clover school district’s procedures, the S.C. high school league’s Phase 1 safety guidelines and the color-coded, weeks-in-the-works plan on head football coach Brian Lane’s clipboard — they’d work out and leave. Safely.
“You gotta have a degree in brain surgery to figure this out,” Lane would later say, shaking his head and laughing.
But that’s still a while away. For now, it’s 9:20 a.m., and assistant athletic trainer Katherine Kiser is seated at a foldable table, using weights and rolls of tape and whatever she has available to prevent stacks of papers from blowing away. She asks the same questions over and over: Have you recently had a fever? Cough? Shortness of breath? Have you been in contact with or cared for someone who’s had COVID-19?
“I’ll have these memorized by the end of the day,” she says.
Under normal circumstances, athletic trainers wouldn’t need to do all this. Players usually turn in their paperwork to their coaches, and the coaches pass that along to the training staff, Kiser said.
“Normally, I’m around, so if somebody was to need something I’d come up here,” Kiser said. “But otherwise, generally, if nobody needs anything or if there aren’t any injuries that we need to rehab or anything like that, then I’m not here.
“But now all hands are on deck. We’re here, we’re staffed, we’re ready to go.”
On-field workouts despite coronavirus
By 9:37 a.m., Lane runs to the main practice field. He’s seven minutes late according to his clipboard, but to an observer, the morning’s been about as efficient as it could be. Without footballs or any other equipment, and with only part of the offensive line and receiving corps, he puts his first group of players through some plays.
By 10 a.m., the defensive group takes the field under the direction of defensive coordinator Steven Peeler, and they run through their own schemes.
By 11 a.m., another 36 football players split into four groups and check in with the athletic trainers on site. Come 12:30 p.m., another set comes in.
Clover’s facilities, which are more expansive than most 5A schools because of the additional facilities on its ninth grade campus, make working out a 100-plus group of kids feasible, Lane said.
“Some people are doing it differently, like in rotations,” Lane said. “I felt like this was the optimal way to get guys in, get them seen and conditioned.”
Heading into Wednesday morning, a sentiment existed that the SCHSL’s Phase 1 restrictions would encumber summer football workouts, restricting them to the point where they’re nothing more than glorified conditioning drills. But come Wednesday afternoon, there was no sign of quiet desperation, or surrendering to an upsetting set of circumstances, in Clover.
Lane said the situation posed by coronavirus is “nothing but adversity.”
“Whatever Coach Lane does is going to be productive,” Clover athletic director Bailey Jackson said. “Phase 1 is best for staying in contact with our kids. I mean, without spotters in the weight room, without footballs being thrown and caught, it’s kinda tough. But it was great to see kids back on campus.”
Football season starts, questions remain
Clover’s beginning of summer workouts marks the beginning of football season.
The other school districts in York County — Rock Hill, Fort Mill and York — will begin workouts next week. Chester County football teams will begin on June 22. Lancaster’s return date is still pending board approval.
Clover football seniors Chance Mackey, Josh Marr and Rhyan Cheatham said they’re confident there will be a football season in 2020, and they also said the return of summer workouts was a relief.
“Especially with missing spring ball, that just gave us that extra edge to want to be out here more,” Cheatham said.
Although day one of Clover athletics’ 2020 summer is in the books, plenty of uncertainty remains.
Most notably, coronavirus cases are still rising.
York County reported more than 20 new coronavirus cases for a third day in a row on Wednesday. On Monday, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control identified 542 new cases of COVID-19 across the state, marking a new single-day high.
SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton did not provide guidelines or a timeline for when Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the SCHSL’s plan will be initiated — or if they will be initiated. That all depends on the progress of Phase 1, he told media members last week.
For now, Jackson said Clover is focused on preparing like there will be a fall sports season.
“They’re ready for the season,” Jackson said. “The spring was full of disappointments. … And now, the kids are excited about coming in here. Hopefully, we’ll move into Phase 2 and then the third phase and be ready to have a season.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 10:03 AM.
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