Practical Notes on Practicing in Masks

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about what our athletic department is doing to make sports possible during a pandemic. We had some early bumps–I suspect most programs paying attention do.

He was made fun of for it, but Donald Rumsfeld talked of ‘known knowns’ and ‘known unknowns’ and that the real danger was the ‘unknown unknowns’. It may sound silly–but he is correct. We are at a time when a ton of stuff is unknown and trying to cover as many contingency possibilities as possible is tiring for everyone involved.

Anyways, we’ve been able to practice for the past month. Three weeks ago, my assistant and I decided that we would follow stricter rules than what our school issued regarding masks and began working towards 100% masks, 100% of the time. We got some eye rolls, got some ‘that’s not possible’ as well–but with a couple people I noted “Marines are wearing them for their training all day in 90-degree heat, 90% humidity…we can’t do this for two hours?”

We built up gradually over the course of a week. We could’ve done it instantly, but we took it gradually–there was no need in causing tension. The objective was to get to the point of 100% masks.

DAY 1: Worn during stretching/warmups (15-20 minutes) DAY 2: Stretching, warmups, low-intensity work (45 minutes) DAY 3: As Day 2, but substituting high-intensity for the low (45 minutes) DAY 4: Stretching, warm-ups, low-intensity, and all 6v6 activity (75-90 minutes) DAY 5: Full practice with the exception of a final, high-paced, high-intensity drill at the end (nearly 120 minutes)

By the next week, we were wearing them full-time.

It would be great if athletes had two masks/day–they do get a bit damp with condensation as we near the end of practice.

The first day or two, athletes pulled at their masks and straps. After that, they haven’t been a lot of problems. Some masks slip during play (not pulled down–real slips) and the kids forget to pull them back up without a reminder. Not a biggie. If we get a situation where they are sucking air from a drill, they walk to an unused portion of the gym, pull the mask down for 30-60 seconds, then come back with the mask up. This seems to work.

The real issue is volume. It is surprising in reality (no matter how much I understand it intellectually) to realize how much a mask muffles sound. I’m loud, I can project, but in a mask, I cannot be understood at the far end of our gym regardless of my enunciation or projection. It just isn’t possible. We’re spending extra time repeating things than we usually do–initially I did think it was ‘focus’, but by Day Three, we knew better. –If projection is necessary, I back way the heck away from everyone, do it, then put the mask up. I don’t think having the mask down for conversations at under 30-40 feet is necessary.

It is impossible to have an ‘intimate’ talk with 16 athletes and 2 coaches while following social-distancing. I think it’s going to be impossible to follow proper guidelines during a timeout. The best we can do to keep people relatively close while following distancing protocols makes me feel like a quarterback surveying a football defense.

We don’t assign spots in the formation, but when we line up, we have a couple hard-of-hearing and they get to be front and center. The formation takes up pretty much one side of a volleyball court. I’m not sure how we’re going to do timeouts like this–definitely won’t be any secrets between the two benches since there won’t be noise from fans…

Hope it helps.

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