SMCC Athletic Programs Start Small Group Practices for 2021 Spring Season (Updated)

South Mountain Community College will resume team activities for several athletic programs on Tuesday, Jan. 19. The Cougar baseball, softball, men's golf and women's golf teams will compete in the upcoming 2021 spring semester. Coaches and administrators have implemented a series of safeguards to help the student-athletes return to competition.

For a more in-depth look at the Cougars' return to competition, check out this feature story that ran in the Arizona Republic on Feb. 9. 

SMCC Athletic Director and baseball head coach Todd Eastin and SMCC head athletic trainer Rick Wade have been instrumental in creating plans for the teams to return to practice and competition.

Those safeguards include but are not limited to:

• The wearing of masks at all times, including in the bullpen and dugouts, by all program members. 
• Coaches will space out chairs and other seating throughout the dugout, field, bullpen and other areas as needed to ensure proper social distancing. 
• Coaches will schedule the arrival, departure and parking for student-athletes to maintain proper social distancing. 
• The school has provided an insulated water bottle to each student-athlete and at least three towels per session.
• Student-athletes will not be permitted to shower or change at school after practice. 
• Coaches will give out hand sanitizer and install sanitizing stations around the facilities. 
• The use of shared equipment will be highly discouraged, but thorough cleaning of the equipment will occur between each use if it occurs. An example is a baseball/softball bat. 
• Coaches will perform temperature checks for every person participating in each session. 

Another tool that Wade created was a Google survey that each student-athlete must complete before coming to the facility to begin practice. On this survey, student-athletes will indicate if they have any symptoms, if they have been exposed to someone with the virus, or if they have been diagnosed with the virus in the last 14 days. All student-athletes must complete this survey before participating in scheduled activities for that day. Coaches can review the results of the survey on smartphones and ensure completion before beginning instruction. 

For road competitions, the student-athletes and coaches will meet at the hosting institution and perform temperature and wellness checks in the parking lots and other designated areas away from the general population before anyone enters the facilities.  

The baseball program has some experience in this; during the 2020 summer, assistant coach Tyler Gillum served as the Savannah Bananas head coach in the Coastal Plains League. Gillum and the Bananas were able to play a full summer of baseball while successfully executing a plan to keep the players, host families and coaches safe from the pandemic.

The golf programs practice at facilities that have already implemented multiple safeguards in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. That includes, but is not limited to, sanitizing stations, the requirements of masks and other measures to ensure social distancing.