Fall sports training begins, but will the season actually start?

Eric Bendig is the football coach at Philip Simmons High School. He also is a teacher, husband and father.

And, as his team begins the first step in preparing for the 2020 season, he realizes the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest foe on the Iron Horses’ schedule. The virus is so ominous that he’s not even sure if there will be a football season this year.

“It’s something everyone has to deal with in their own unique way,” Bendig said of the virus, which forced the South Carolina High School League to shut down sports in mid-March. “I have to deal with it as a coach. I also am concerned about it as a husband and dad. I know we have missed a couple of games in the past because of hurricanes in South Carolina. But this is the entire country, the entire world. As a coach who works with 14- to 18-year-olds, I tell them to embrace the moment. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

The High School League gave the green light to opening up gyms and weight rooms, but gave each of the state’s school districts the autonomy to set their own guidelines.

The league’s guidelines for workouts include social distancing, face masks, temperature checks and proper sanitary precautions. It’s quite a change from last summer when all coaches had to worry about were depth charts, face masks that didn’t include the N95 variety, and schedules.

The Iron Horses, following the guidelines from the Berkeley County School District, have opened their weight room to potential football players who are in high school. The players in the junior high program do not have access to the gym and weight rooms.

While the Philip Simmons football players, along with their Daniel Island counterparts from Bishop England High, work out under strict supervision, the increase in coronavirus cases around the Lowcountry and Palmetto State is a cause for concern for Bendig, as well as BE athletic di-rector Paul Runey.

“It definitely concerns me,” said Bendig who noted an increase that began with Memorial Day weekend. “I take my cues from the people above me and my job to follow the guidelines to a ’T.’”
Runey said, “Sure, the spike in the number concerns me. Some people act like (COVID-19) is gone. But we know better.”

Workouts at Philip Simmons begin with the coaches having their temperatures checked by the training staff. They are then asked a series of health-related questions before they are given the green light to proceed. It’s the same process for student-athletes.

“Everyone is wearing a mask up until it’s time to work out,” Bendig said. “You try to follow the guidelines and do the best you can do. But we have no control of them once they leave campus.”

The Bishops monitor their players while on campus.

“You have to remain in your original group during workouts,” Runey said. “You have to remain in that group. You can’t bounce around from one group to another. And, if you are scheduled to lift at 7 a.m. in the morning and don’t show up, you don’t lift that day.”

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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