When the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin announced in late July that fall sports competitions at its member campuses were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it might have seemed the Carroll athletic program would simply shut down for the fall semester.

8月下旬，学生们回到卡罗尔开始了面对面的课程, 施耐德体育场就不会有周六的足球赛了, 没有越野赛, 没有足球比赛. CCIW的决定, 与全国大多数大学会议相匹配, 影响了所有9个秋季运动项目, 包括足球, 男子和女子越野赛, 男子和女子高尔夫球, 男子和女子足球, 女子网球和排球.

“This decision was not taken lightly,” said 威尼斯游戏大厅 President Cindy Gnadinger. “We explored all options available to bring our fall student-athletes back in a safe manner this season. 不幸的是, postponing competitions was the best way to keep our student-athletes safe in what was a unique fall semester.” 

而不是关门大吉, 然而, 卡罗尔的教练和工作人员进入了加时, 找到传递真实信息的方法, 为大学的学生运动员提供有意义的体验.

“作为一个体育部门, 为学生运动员提供最好的体验是我们的工作, 包括保证他们的安全和健康吗,田径主任迈克尔·舒斯特说. “这个决定无疑影响了我们学生运动员的经历. 幸运的是, our administration and coaching staff were committed to finding creative and safe ways to keep our student-athletes engaged this fall with an eye on competing again in spring.”

The goal was to find a way to provide 本校的 with as much of the usual athletics experience as possible—safely. 要做到这一点, students were divvied up into small group cohorts in each sport for a 4-week-long practice season. 男子和女子足球, 越野, 排球, 男子曲棍球队和网球队——总共约有200名学生——排名第一.

Student-athletes in each sport began training in small groups while undergoing frequent monitoring and testing designed to quickly identify and help contain any potential outbreaks. 在没有发现病例的情况下，群体规模逐渐增加.

负责卫生预防措施的是2002年出生的史蒂文·斯塔布.Ed. 08年，卡罗尔的首席运动教练. 比赛被取消了, 我们仍然希望我们的学生运动员获得大学的经验,他解释道. “尤其是即将入学的一年级学生. We wanted them to be able to learn their sport and bond with one another and experience all those team building experiences coaches offer.”

Staab outlined a host of measures designed to maintain a safe environment and root out any asymptomatic cases. “我们知道，对于这个年龄段的人来说，整整三分之一的人可能没有症状.“每天都有症状检查, routine temperature monitoring (students regularly had to walk past a thermal imaging camera that would note any fevers) and frequent individual temperature checks with handheld thermometers. 春季和冬季运动遵循相同的程序.

监测和检测(秋季进行了约700次COVID-19检测), 结合小队列模型, 在任何传播发生之前，帮助发现并控制了少数病例. 

“The thoroughness of our planning really helped control any type of spread within any sport,斯塔布报告说. “这真的是关于遏制. (With this system in place) when we do have a case, we’re able to contain it in a matter of hours.

进一步, 本校的, 致力于一系列旨在限制自己暴露的行为, 成为榜样, 保持良好的个人卫生, 整个校园保持身体距离并监测症状. 

足球

One of the largest question marks coming into this fall across the country was "how do you have a safe football season?" 

First-year head coach Mike Budziszewski and his staff did everything they could to make sure their athletes stayed distant. “如果我们注意到我们的团队走到一起，在近距离交谈, 我们大喊“伸开双臂”!’ and our guys put their arms out and spun around like helicopters to make sure they were staying socially distant,布齐舍夫斯基说. 

橄榄球是今年秋天的第二项运动, the team had the luxury of spending the first four weeks with strength and conditioning before putting their helmets on in the second four weeks. Even during their strength season, the team followed masking and distancing guidelines. 一旦他们进入训练场，前两周是不接触的. 团队使用的唯一共享设备是在他们的问责伙伴之间, 这个词是布齐舍夫斯基今年秋天频繁创造的. 

“That was a layer of insulation that we put within our plan to make sure that if one person tests positive for COVID, it wasn’t an entire group because they were all blocking the same sled or using the same shield,布齐舍夫斯基说. 

这种追踪接触者的技术似乎确实有所帮助, 整个秋天先锋运动员的阳性检测都很少. “I think our guys took a lot of pride in that every week when we came out and said ‘hey, 没有阳性测试，他们知道自己在做正确的事情,布齐舍夫斯基说. “我们有一个很好的理解, 不仅来自教练，也来自整个社区, 如果我们要成为我们足球品牌的管理者, 然后我们需要确保我们做得更好.”  

女子田径

当每个程序被要求找到方法将团队分成小组时, 1998年的女子田径总教练肖恩·蒂利茨觉得这很容易. 蒂利茨说:“我们只是按活动分组. 短跑运动员呆在一起，投掷运动员呆在一起，如此等等.

“We tried to make it as individualistic as possible for those event groups,” said Thielitz. “The athletes knew that if they were warming up or if they weren’t doing anything strenuous, 面具必须戴上.田径项目是威尼斯游戏大厅最大的团队之一, 本校的 served as highly visible role-models for the rest of the campus to follow guidelines. 

蒂利茨说，学生们知道他们是校园里的领袖. “他们得到了一根胡萝卜，就像你做对了就可以得到这个一样. 我们强调，我们不仅要成为赛场上的领导者，也要成为课堂上的领导者.” Each team had to undergo testing each week, and Thielitz said his athletes complied happily. “我认为这强化了泡沫心态,他说, 因为学生们明白了阳性结果传播的速度有多快.

女子足球

苏茜·福斯特教练的团队必须采取一种全新的心态. 初夏时节, the team learned there would be no competitions this fall and that they would have to relearn how to practice as a team in small groups. 福斯特说，这一切都是为了拥抱逆境. “你不会拿这个做比较, 你必须完全创造一个新的环境, 在遵守规则的同时,”她说。. 49名学生运动员被分成10-15人一组. “我们想让他们和室友打成一组, 和他们一起旅行的人, 共享相同的类, 诸如此类,福斯特说。. 

As for being role models for the rest of campus, Foster said it was really nothing new. “我们谈论了很多:当你把这个标志戴在胸前时，这意味着什么? What does it mean when a professor sees it in a classroom, or when other students see you on campus? 当你在沃基夏的时候，它代表什么?” 

Foster told the students it was a gift to be able to have a positive impact in a situation like this. 这支球队在缩短的训练赛季结束时进行了一场完整的比赛. “I think to have a chance to reward the seniors for the four years that they’ve put in and to recognize them and their families for all of their hard work, 我只是觉得这很特别.”

男子曲棍球

短, four-week practice schedule wasn’t anything new for men’s lacrosse or head coach Zack Olsen. “It’s a standard four weeks for us, regardless of what’s going on right now with COVID. 我们采用了非传统的4周16次练习，一切都很顺利.” 

奥尔森采用小组形式来创造竞争. “We had them compete against each other in relay races and different passing ground ball drills. Whoever won that competition then picked out an assortment of workouts they had to complete, 大约15个立卧撑.” 

教练对学生们限制个人曝光的努力感到满意. “They all wanted to be out there, so they definitely held true to that accountability,” said Olsen. “总的来说, they were happy to be back out on the field and now they’re getting it done in the weight room with the same groups.”