Indiana Football Will Return to Workouts in Waves

The Indiana football team will return in waves Image: Sammy Jacobs, Hoosier Huddle

Written by Juliet Gahan

Wave one of IU Athletes to return to campus next week.   

IU Athletics is beginning phase one of their plan to bring back athletes for voluntary practice starting Monday, June 15th. Football will be the first sport back in the weight rooms. The first wave of 68 athletes will be on campus June 8th.  Head Coach Tom Allen is ready for players to start the season. 

“I can't wait to see them. It's been so long. Seems like it. It really has. I'd love to give them a big ole bear hug. Probably going to have to give them either a fist bump or an elbow bump or whatever the protocol is for that.” Allen said. He’s right, the protocol will not allow any “bear hugs” for a while. 

Once the first wave of athletes arrive on June 8th, they will be split into two groups. Each group and the staff will be tested for COVID-19. They will then be quarantined until their test results are finalized. After this step is complete players will be shown the ropes on their new voluntary practice plan. Players will use two key facilities, the weight room and the athletic field for running. 

This process will repeat itself  two weeks later (June 29th) when 25 more players return to campus. Then, once more on July 6th when the rest of the players arrive in Bloomington. Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Andy Hipskind  noted that social distancing will be done by limiting numbers of people working out together. 

“We're going to have to make adjustments on the fly but we feel like we have a good robust plan in place, and while we can't guarantee safety, there is some risk tolerance to this, so everybody is accepting a certain level of risk, we can't guarantee safety.” Dr. Hipskind said. All players will return to practice voluntarily and will sign an acknowledgement stating that they know the social distancing, hygiene, sanitation, and the safety measures that are in place during their training. 

“As Coach Allen alluded to, we've put together a very detailed plan to restart and we're doing this in phases. So, in the initial phase we'll be able to social distance simply by limiting the numbers of people who are working out together, and what we refer to those groups in medical context is cohorts. He (Allen) was mentioning that we would try to get the kids who are roommates to also be in the same workout group.” Hipskind said. Hipskind showed that the key to limiting the spread of cases will be to keep players in their assigned groups. This limits the amount of people the players are exposed to and will lower the risk of contracting the virus. 

There will be big changes in the weight room. Strength coach Aaron Wellman will be joining the Hoosiers. Wellman formerly worked with the New York Giants.  Wellman’s addition to the team was announced right before Spring Break and hasn’t been able to work in person with players due to the cancellations caused by COVID-19. 

“He and his entire staff have not worked with them face to face in a workout yet. That's going to be very different. I'm looking forward to that, that's an exciting time for them and for our strength staff as well. It's just going to be a lot of changes” said coach Allen, who also noted that one change players will have is equipment. Players are now used to doing sit-ups and push-ups at home. Once on campus, they will have the proper equipment to train for the season. 

Football is the first sport to return to IU, but several others are not far behind. Women’s and Men’s Soccer, Volleyball and Field Hockey will all be hard at work in July. Cross Country will be back in mid August. All sports will have new guidelines. 

No more than ten total participants will be permitted in one space at a time counting staff and student-athletes. Participants must follow physical distancing and will wear face coverings. Participants will be reminded to wash their hands often. Nonessential travel will be limited. 

“There's risk in everything that we do. But you do everything at a high level of preparation and you follow all the medical experts and everything you say is the best practice.” Coach Allen said. IU has put in the preparation and they are ready to get to practice.