January 2021 - 36

COACHING DURING
COVID-19
Football Coaches Country-Wide Face Different Challenges
By Jake Levin, contributing writer
In many parts of the country, Friday nights in the
fall wouldn't be complete without the local high school
football team taking the field.
Like many other facets of life in 2020, however, high
school football traditions have been turned upside down
by the coronavirus pandemic. While 35 out of 50 states
ultimately moved forward with their seasons in the fall,
it's hardly been business as usual in communities even
where the lights have flickered on Friday nights.
In Georgia, head coach Adam Carter is in his second
season presiding over powerhouse Grayson High in
Gwinnett County. The Rams were ranked as high
as fourth in the MaxPreps national rankings in midNovember,
sporting an 8-0 record in Class 7A, the
highest level of competition in the Peach State.
The game of football itself remains fundamentally
unchanged for Grayson, which has won a pair of state
championships over the last decade (2011, 2016). But
the buildup to the season was taxing for Carter and his
coaching staff, as social distancing guidelines made
it difficult for the program to have any semblance of a
normal off-season.
" I'm a big relationships guy, so when our kids got
shut down from school in March and we kept thinking
'they're gonna come back, they're gonna come back' and
they never did...losing that time with your kids is tough, "
Carter said. " In the summertime, where I got to see just
a couple of kids a day instead of the 150 I normally see,
that takes a toll on you as a coach. You want to see your
kids and your kids want to see you. "
A limited number of players and coaches were able
to attend practice at a given time, where masks were
required upon entry. Practices in the summer for the
Rams would begin with each player and coach getting a
temperature check before entering the facility, and unless
participating in active drills, masks had to be worn by
players and coaches even when lifting weights.
There was no sharing of water bottles between
players, a practice that has continued over to game days.
While it isn't uncommon for different position groups to
practice separately even in normal times, there was very
little interaction between them during summer sessions.
During games, players must stand six feet apart from
one another on the sidelines, part of an overall change in
the ambiance at Grayson
Community Stadium. Fans
are allowed into the 8,521seat
stadium at 30% capacity,
while the school's band has
been relocated from the
bleachers to the end zone so
as not to count towards the
attendance figure.
Social distancing is
recommended, Carter said,
as safety measures are
read aloud from the public
address system. Masks are
not required for spectators,
though different areas of the
bleachers are marked off
to encourage spectators to
stand apart.
" It's a small crowd, but
it's been good, " Carter said.
Out west, St. Anthony
High in Long Beach, CA, is
waiting until mid-December
to begin training camp for
34 JANUARY 2021
January 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2021
