No news on sports

There is no news to speak of regarding sports in Minnesota, with one exception. The state is allowing small groups to practice, with limits of 10 people involved. Other requirements and regulations for youth recreation and otherwise have been set forth by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Beyond that, it's a waiting game.

Meanwhile, in South Dakota, I just read this today.

Teams finding unique ways to stay fit before fall sports seasons

by Tom Savage, for the Dell Rapids Tribune, published 10:38 a.m. CT May 22, 2020

The state high school track meet was scheduled for this coming weekend. It was to be the final sporting event of the 2019-2020 school year, but Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls will sit empty on Saturday.

Traditionally following the state track meet, athletes from around the state have a break before prepping for the upcoming fall sports schedule. But that break was a minor one in today’s world of year-round competition, even on the high school level as football camps, volleyball camps and AAU basketball tournaments dot the summer schedule.

Starting June 1, football, basketball and volleyball camps are normally ramping up across the state. Now with schools dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, camps and team preparations are a distant memory.

Many schools have given athletes workout programs through Google Classroom to use while working out at home during the current pandemic. With most school facilities such as weight rooms and training equipment closed, coaches have had to get creative since athletes haven't competed in any sport since mid-March.

That’s one of the concerns for coaches around the state as the fall sports season looms. Will athletes be ready, and will they be more prone to injuries now that they’ve been idle for so long?

“I think preventing injuries is a worry for a lot of coaches right now,” Baltic football coach Alan Baskerville said. “We’re telling our kids to stay active, work out and don’t just be sitting around. You can see all athletics is about getting faster, bigger, stronger. That trend is continuing.”

Several teams in the area have put an off-season acceleration program together with Dell Rapids-based Rapid Fitness. Owner Matt Beukelman said he’s been arming athletes with both at-home workouts where they can use their body weight for various workouts and also been hosting acceleration workouts at Rapid Fitness. Beukelman said he has capped the sessions with a low number of participants and he’s able to spread them out over the vast square footage he has at the facility.

“The best way of staying healthy year-round is to be doing workouts year-round,” Beukelman said. “Kids went from planning on a track season to sitting at home in front of a computer or gaming system. The big concern is missing the entire track and field season that could enhance performance, to absolutely nothing.”

One of the teams taking advantage of the acceleration program Rapid Fitness is the Dell Rapids volleyball team. The Quarriers were decimated by injuries last year and didn’t have their starting lineup healthy at the same time the entire season.

Coach Erica Fersdahl said for as important as skills camps are during the summer, being able to get to Rapid Fitness three times per week is just as important this season.

“If we’re not going to be able to do anything, we need to at least be getting stronger,” she said. “It’s something I’ve really pushed because I told the girls that we might not get team camp. If we can do nothing else as a group for team-building, we really need to get stronger and faster.”

The St. Mary football program is also taking a different approach this summer. Each senior is in charge of a group of underclassmen to keep track of hours as they do workouts at home, or at Rapid Fitness, or any other workout facility that is currently open.

At the end of each week, the team convenes via Zoom and can see each group’s progress on a Google Classroom document.

“Kids can see who’s winning, who’s losing, and who’s doing what,” coach Ross Flemmer said. “I don’t know if it’s a perfect way to do it, but the kids seem to like it.”

Flemmer said many of the football players at St. Mary have home weight equipment. Many who don’t were given dumbbells from the St. Mary weight room to take home during the quarantine.

But for as limited as athletes are right now to workout facilities, Flemmer said that it may be the best thing that could have happened for many athletes. He said the current quarantine has given athletes the chance to rest. 

“You see so much more overuse injuries now than you did even 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. “In some ways I’m not so sure it’s not a good thing for some of them. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some of these kids come back a lot healthier next year.”