By Isaac Donsky & Matt Kells
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writers
It’s 6 a.m. in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The James Madison Dukes men’s basketball team is preparing for the first road trip of the season. Traveling is never glamorous for mid-major college sports teams. But during COVID-19, it’s even more of a grind.
Players have already eaten a quick breakfast. They are wearing masks and line up to get tested for COVID-19. Once that’s done, their masks go back on and they get onto a private bus owned by the university. The bus has been sanitized, and players sit spaced apart according to a pre-planned seating chart. They settle in for a long drive.
This is the new normal for athletics, both professional and collegiate. With the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of stopping, traveling to away games has become a surreal experience.
“I don’t think anyone really has a hold on this virus,” said Kevin White, associate athletics director for sports programs at James Madison. “We are constantly educating our people on what we learn, what we can adjust and what we can do.”
Even in these trying times, athletes have made it clear that they want to play. And athletic programs have responded by coming up with new protocols for travel to ensure the safety of their athletes.
For James Madison, this means completely rethinking how to get athletes from point A to point B.
“We have tried to minimize our travel to day trips as much as possible,” said White, who deals with such logistics.
White said that anything within four hours is considered a day trip, meaning the team travels to their contest and back on the same day. An overnight stay is anything more than four hours away. James Madison is largely sticking to playing conference opponents, as they are likelier to be close geographically.
James Madison’s main means of transportation is by bus. The Dukes have incorporated a set of safety precautions for bus travel.
“We narrowed it down to perimeter seating and no one directly behind the bus driver,” White said. “You have to mask at all times, no eating on the bus, and the only way you can hydrate on the bus is through a straw.”
In some cases, if the trip is short enough, buses aren’t even needed. When the women’s basketball team traveled to the University of Virginia earlier this season, they took vans for the two-hour drive.
“When you have an opportunity for a shorter trip, we break up the team,” White said.
To ensure the safety of everyone traveling with an athletic team, whether it’s a team manager or the star player, extra measures are taken to keep personnel safe and healthy.
“We sanitize the space before the next team comes in,” White said. “All you can do is your best. You can still practice all the best habits and still get sick.”
With so many precautions in place, and possibilities still for something to go wrong, one has to ask if an easier option exists. Couldn’t James Madison and other colleges in the nearby region form a bubble to allow their athletes to safely play? Something similar to what the NBA did earlier this year?
White said that just can’t happen.
“The only way to truly have a bubble is for your institution to go to online classes,” White said. “If a student isn’t required to be in a classroom, then a bubble can exist.”
Towson University’s men’s basketball team experienced bubble life for a short period earlier this fall. Along with 39 other teams, the Tigers played a three-game slate in the “Bubbleville” complex at Mohegan Sun, a casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Dave Vatz, director of athletic media relations for Towson, said the way the team got to and from ‘Bubbleville’ is unlike anything he has ever experienced.
“The rules have definitely changed,” Vatz said. “We have not flown anywhere and we are not planning to fly anywhere as of right now. That may change based on conference play.”
This is a major change of pace for a program that, in the last five years, has been on major road trips to Las Vegas and the Bahamas. Now, the status quo is to get on the bus.
And once you get on the bus, you stay there.
“The only people that get off the bus are those that absolutely have to,” Vatz said. “Let’s say we’re stopping to get food. Only one of two people get off of the bus to grab carry-out. We’re not eating at the restaurant. We get our food, we get on the bus and we get going.”
Once in Connecticut, the Tigers, along with the other men’s and women’s teams participating in the Bubbleville, were tested rigorously during their stay. Even with thorough testing procedures, precautions still had to be taken inside the bubble.
“Usually when we’re on the road it’s three players per room,” Vatz said, “Now it’s just two per room — roommates only.”
To make matters even more complicated, teams often have little time these day to prep for road trips — as schedules are as fluid as ever. COVID-19 has meant games being cancelled, rescheduled and added at a moment’s notice Athletic departments have had to get creative in finding games, and in some cases have given up on non-conference schedules.
“As we look at spring sports, we have gone to a conference scheduling model that’s regional so we’re not playing everyone across the board,” White said.
It’s easy for schools such as James Madison to set up conference-only schedules. The Dukes play in the Colonial Athletic Association, which is based in the East Coast. Traveling to and from these schools can be accomplished with buses, and some contests can be made into one-day trips.
But even with plenty of preparation, schedules can still change without warning. If just one player tests positive for the virus, then a game can be thrown into disarray. Schedules can change at any minute, at any hour of the day. Getting in a full season is not guaranteed.
“We’re going to do everything we can to get a full season in,” Vatz said. “We’re going to run into hiccups. We already have.”
For Towson, a positive test within the men’s basketball program meant pausing the season.
“That was going to happen,” said Vatz. “We’re trying to keep everyone as safe as possible, while also trying to get everyone to play. Games and tournaments are going to get cancelled.”
While it may be difficult for larger schools to coordinate travel itinerary plans, smaller Division II and III schools have found that it is a whole new ballgame. Especially when they don’t have the budget and resources.
Nazareth College in upstate New York has been figuring ways to transport teams to their destinations as safely as possible. Athletic Director Pete Bothner described the possibility of having men’s and women’s teams travel on different days to reduce the amount of personnel on buses.
“The coach can go home with one gender and come back the next day with the next gender for tournaments, and no fans to keep our numbers low,” Bothner said.
Because Nazareth College has a hockey program with teams in their conference hailing from multiple states, splitting the conference in two to significantly reduce travel seems to be the answer.
“We might go with a north pod and a south pod and do a reduced amount of play there,” Bothner said.
For Division III, rushing into athletic competitions was never on the agenda. The plan was to slowly ease into practicing. As far as when games and tournaments would start however, it was still up in the air until recently.
“We are trying to do winter, spring, and fall all in the spring semester starting March 1,” Bothner said. “It’s going to be really really tough doing it all in just March and April. I was hoping we would have February as a part of it.”
Playing sports from three different seasons in just two months time creates some issues. With the limited resources of a Division III school such as Nazareth, getting their teams to coordinate travel plans can be a web of conflict.
“The No. 1 concern is always providing the best experience for everybody,” Bothner said. “With the cold and flu season and the six-to-eight-week break at home, we’re just not comfortable getting started in early February.”
Bothner and other athletic directors have a legit reason to be wary. Sending their teams on the road to play during a pandemic, at the end of the day, is a very risky business. There is always a fear that on one of these trips, that the absolute worst could occur.
“If a student-athlete dies, it gets everyone’s attention,” White said. “Those close to that athlete will have a new outlook on the pandemic.”
That’s the risk that these athletic programs are willing to take. Away games still take place, and teams have to be prepared to travel in a new, strange world.