Earlier this month Iowa’s neighbor, Minnesota, closed down all sports activities for high school and under. A few days later Governor Kim Reynolds gave Iowa it’s first mask mandate requiring everyone to wear masks in public.
As restrictions start rising again with the numbers of COVID-19, Northwind reached out to the Iowa Lakes coaches to see what kinds of preparations they are making for their players. One thing the coaches of ILCC has going for them, they are doing all they can for their player to continue playing.
Michael Turnbull, coach for the volleyball team, had this to say, ” We screen our athletes daily, social distance, sanitize balls periodically during practice. Our athletes COVID test if showing symptoms. They also isolate with their assigned Pods as much as possible. We wear masks anytime we are grouped. Coaches wear masks all the time. Appointments with Athletic Trainers are scheduled individually. Mask wearing is required anytime we travel. We are only allowed to play games inside the state of Iowa this year. None of our athletes are permitted to play more than one sport this year.”
Volleyball’s last practice of the year was Nov 24th and is scheduled to resume Jan 5th. Turnbull is hopeful the competitive season will continue with it’s scheduled start on Jan 24.
“None of this has been easy for the athletes or staff,” said Turnbull, “There has only been isolated shut downs or quarantining that any of the teams have experienced. All of our anxiety levels have been elevated. Our players have handled the situation well. We all look forward to evening practices because they bring a sense of normalcy to our days. We all are trying our best to be healthy & hopeful.”
Ashley Martin, the head women’s basketball coach, has expressed similar thoughts as her fellow coach, “It has been a tough semester for our team just because we haven’t played games like we typically do. With that being said, we have also been very fortunate in the fact that we have been able to practice as a team and got to scrimmage five times. We are thankful for all the time we had together.”
Women’s basketball practice is scheduled to begin Jan 4th with their first game against Iowa Western on Jan 20th. “Our team has been so cautious and taking all precautions to stay healthy and prevent the spread,” said Martin, “We limited who the team could hang out with; meaning they could only hang out with [women’s basketball] players. We wear masks all over campus, any team activity in a classroom, and anytime we go out in town.”
It’s not the end of college sports yet, but only time will tell if the careful precautions the teams have made will prove fruitful over the season.
Call of the Lake 
Leave a comment