By: Brayden Brown
As the pandemic continues, Bellarmine Athletics officials are doing everything they can to keep basketball players healthy on the court and in the classroom.
Since the men’s and women’s basketball seasons started in December, protocols have been heavily enforced to keep Bellarmine athletes on the floor. Both men’s and women’s teams must be tested two to three times per week, wear facemasks to the court and while on the sidelines, and sit in seats that are socially distanced. If under any circumstance an athlete is exposed to the virus, he or she will be placed in an immediate 14-day quarantine.
“It has affected it every single day because of the uncertainty of what’s going on in college basketball. It’s not just your team. It’s everybody,” men’s basketball head coach Scott Davenport.
“We spend enough time stressing to our players about discipline, but you can’t control everything else around you. You just have to do everything right in your power and hope for the best,” he said.
The women’ basketball team has not only had to follow weekly and daily protocols, but actually felt first-hand what it is like to quarantine right before the season. Women’s head coach Chancellor Dugan said, “We were supposed to open up on the 25th of November and we didn’t play till the 14th of December.”
“We were in quarantine two different times, kind of back to back, 14 days apiece. Then, after quarantine, you have to follow return to play protocol which is another five days, so it was about 35 days that we missed,” she said.
With the team having a lot of first-year players, Dugan said her main focus was getting everybody back up to speed with team schemes and formations.
Senior forward Lauren Deel said she felt the strong physical effects of COVID-19. “When I had it, I was just physically exhausted. I literally just laid in bed all day,” Deel said. “The coronavirus also made getting in shape a lot harder. I felt like I hadn’t been active in months, and it had only been a few weeks.”
Even though the women’s basketball team has gone through tough times,
Deel said that season is still season. “I really hate that we can’t have more fans. It’s really a bummer, and it definitely changes the atmosphere on game day,” she said.