Notre Dame Football Coach Brian Kelly Outlines Covid-19 Protocol
Life has changed quite a bit since Notre Dame's first (and only) spring practice on March 5th.
And it will be quite different as Notre Dame's players arrive back on campus to start voluntary workouts on June 22nd.
Notre Dame has rolled out an extensive plan based off information from its doctors and the CDC. It starts with testing, but also limited contact...in a contact sport.
"I think there are two types of contact here," Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly stated. "We're talking about limiting contact as it relates to personal spacing, outside of the playing field. But when we get into the playing field, we're going to be in an environment where we have done everything necessary to put our football team into a safe position. So, we're going to coach and teach that allows us to do that.
"There may be some differences. You may see some masks on coaches; some that are not in our Tier 1 that might have been on the field in the past. The blocking and tackling and when it comes to the teaching of techniques, we're going to need to do the things to get a football team ready.
"Now, off the field relative to contact, using the same word, in a different manner, we're going to gradually work towards being with our football team as we pass through certain phases."
There won't be a lack of testing for Notre Dame as each player will get tested for Covid-19 when they arrive back to campus along with an antibody test.
Those tests will be given again as the program advances to the next stage of integration and then during the season, the testing will be weekly.
"We'll begin our voluntary workouts with everybody having been tested," explained Kelly. "You will not be able to get into the football building unless you've been tested and you have tested negative. That begins the process for us. Then it becomes CDC guidelines relative to masks inside, personal distancing, temperature checks and then we'll begin the process of every two weeks of entering a new phase. We'll start the process all over again.
"As we work our way all the way to camp, we'll be in the same process. Then we get into weekly testing for games. I think we're in a situation where everyone is going to be testing weekly that plays in the NCAA. I don't know what everyone else's procedures are going to be, but we'll begin with everybody negative going into the building and then as we pass through each phase, we'll test again and move through those dates."
Some have felt Notre Dame is starting late, while some feel it's too early, but Kelly made it clear that if a player or his family didn't want to return, it was fine.
"What we did say was this wasn't a mandatory event," Kelly stated. "You don't have to come back, obviously. What we're giving you is all these protocols and procedures, but if you feel uncomfortable, you need to let us know. You're not going to lose your scholarship or pull your scholarship if you don't want to come back. These are very difficult times. Call us. Talk to us and tell us what you're concerns are and maybe we can make the adaptations necessary to accommodate.
"We've been fortunate that we've had a few phone conversations about some things that enlightened us that we're learning about. It's been a very productive conversation with those that have had additional questions about certain things."
The other part of Notre Dame's plan is to have the players stay at the Morris Inn, which has dealt with Covid-19 guidelines since the pandemic started.
"I want to emphasize that being in the Morris Inn is because they have a lot of experience dealing with students that were there during the height of the Covid pandemic," explained Kelly. "They're well versed in understanding the virus and all the CDC guidelines that go with it in terms of distancing, sanitizing and all of those things - meals, meal preparation.
"Right now, most of our meals will be pick up and go meals. We're in discussion about having tables that would be six feet apart and the potential for one meal where we would have less than five at a table, 20 in a room at a time six feet apart served by servers that have masks. That would be one meal a day. That is still in discussion at this point.
"They will have to stay on campus during this period of time. Their interaction will be limited to our strength staff. If a coach is in contact with them, they have to have masks on. That is strictly set up by the procedures through the doctors."
Kelly was also proud of how his program from the players to coaches responded over the last few months. He even added they learned quite a bit about how the program can be better moving forward.
"You know that there are so many things you can do and accomplish, even if you've done them all your life one way," said Kelly. "You can accomplish so many things if you just come together and you talk about it and find solutions. We found solutions to voluntary/virtual weight training. We found solutions to online learning. We found solutions to continuing our SWAT teams.
"I think the power of communication has taken over. If you're doing a really good job communicating and touching base, you can accomplish a lot of things. You don't have to be face-to-face meetings every single day. You can do these things through proper forms of communication.
"The onset of this horrific time that we've gone through has opened up our eyes that if we're just better at the fundamentals, we can still get a lot accomplished."