Very odd week in sports. I didn't follow the Coronavirus at all. I knew of it, but I stay away from current events because it usually irritates me and makes me wish for a meteor so humanity can get a reset.
When I heard that "sports" was cancelled I knew it must be serious. Sport in this country stops for NOTHING. We know professional sports and the NCAA are all about the money so cancelling the NCAA Basketball Tournament was a shock to me.
As a strength coach I feel terribly for the spring sport seniors. It seems they, along with everyone on the roster, has been granted an "extra" year of eligibility. This decision is obviously the right one. Bravo NCAA. I know they're are a whole lot of logistics that need to be figured out. It's certainly not as simple as granting the year and moving on. Those decisions are WAY above my pay grade.
What does fall into my pay grade is training. I've been asked by my AD to put together a training packet for everyone at home that "doesn't encourage them to go to the gym." This is obviously the right call, but if you have half a clue you know body weight exercises are just a step above useless for long term effects.
Nonetheless, I will put something together and send it out. Once the Outbreak craze subsides and life returns to normal (unless that meteor hits) we have a unique situation. Looking at the sports I work with... Football has no spring ball. They miss out on necessary Sport Specific Training on the field. Baseball and Softball seasons are cancelled. Enough said.
Nothing we can do about that. I'm looking at it as an opportunity to get in some off-season style training that we would normally miss out on. I'd much rather run them through spring ball and in-season workouts at this time of year, but that's not in the cards.
If you read my post about my training you know I spent some time thinking about all kinds of fancy new ideas. The end result is that I came right back to what I've been doing because it works every time. However, there will be some kids that opt to come back to campus. The ones who do come in will be my guinea pigs. I won't deviate from my program, but I can definitely try some ideas.
My big challenge is space and coaches. Last summer we had 60-70 football players in the weight room during July with 2 coaches. 30-35:1 is not ideal, to say the least. This is why simplicity ALWAYS works.
If any of the ideas seem good the next step is seeing if they can be administered in the above situation. There is no 20,000 sq ft weight room with 24 racks and toys in my future so I have to work with what I have. As do most of you.
I'm trying to make the best of this unique situation and see what comes of it.
Well, it's 9:18pm on Sunday night. I'm going home.