O n ! Ga m e By Pamela Hammonds
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typical sports team is composed of coaches, trainers, and athletes. However this year, due to the pandemic, our facilities team (who kept equipment, workout areas, and buses sanitized) and COVID coordinator became key players in keeping our girls competitive. Since more than 60 percent of our Upper School student population participates in Bruiser athletics, being able to play and compete is vital to the GPS experience for most girls. So, GPS Director of Athletics Jay Watts worked with onsite COVID Coordinator Kimberly Reid ’13 to establish protocols for everything from practices and team photos to travel and spectator capacity while adhering to (and oftentimes exceeding) guidelines from the state and local health officials as well as TSSAA. Varsity Soccer Coach Patrick Winecoff began no-contact soccer practices at the start of the fall season, hosting training sessions that kept the 35 girls on the team working in pods of about nine who didn’t interact with the others. “I’m a little stunned we were able to keep them apart,” Winecoff says, “but the girls—particularly the nine seniors—were determined to do whatever necessary to play their entire season.” Like soccer, all GPS teams implemented safety precautions, including making each girl responsible for her own water bottle and its refills, wearing masks except when in play, reducing bus capacity, and eliminating team dinners and activities that traditionally add to the camaraderie of being teammates. 16
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CHAMPIONING ATHLETICS DURING A WORLDWIDE HEALTH CRISIS
“While athletics are challenging, girls are naturally social, so the water breaks, the time outs, the after-meet times were also hard because they want to hang out with each other,” Watts says. Out of an abundance of caution, locker rooms were not used and girls wore their practice gear under their school uniforms. (The exception was swim and dive, with coaches monitoring locker room traffic.) The number of spectators for indoor and outdoor events was limited, with visitors required to mask and complete a screening. “Every time I attended an event, I thought, this could be our last game,” Watts says. “I anticipated a lot of disruption, but it never happened. Kimberly Reid has been awesome. Having someone monitor COVID and then advise us on what to do kept us ahead of what even TSSAA required of us.” “Our coaches also did an amazing job with encouraging athletes to diligently monitor symptoms and practice safety precautions outside of school,” Reid adds, “which allowed them to stay healthy and involved in their respective sports.” Head Varsity Coach Katie Outlaw and Assistant Hugh Enicks led the Bruiser cross country team to a state win this fall. Perhaps missing their spring 2020 track season due to COVID provided the girls the motivation to do whatever it took to complete their fall cross country season. In particular, senior Jane Eiselstein was determined to finish her last season as a Bruiser strong.
C O U R T YA R D G I R L S P R E P A R A T O R Y S C H O O L G P S .E D U
“Jane has been running since sixth grade and worked so hard to have a personal best, a state championship, and an entire season, and she accomplished all those goals,” Outlaw says. Even at the state meet, the girls lined up with their masks on, only to take them off once the starting gun sounded. “Even though they didn’t have to, they insisted on doing so.” Our commitment has always been to the well-being of our students. To this effect, Reid stayed abreast of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and TSSAA recommendations to have athletes medically evaluated before returning to play after COVID-19 infection. “I cannot thank our students and families enough for their partnership,” Reid says. “By keeping us informed on symptoms, positive test results, and known exposures to COVID-19, our athletes and families helped us prevent further exposure within our teams.” “All in all, our year went better than we had hoped,” Watts says. Cross country won state, three teams had runner-up finishes at state—soccer, softball, and track and field—and three varsity teams—bowling, soccer, and lacrosse—had undefeated regular seasons. Six seniors also went on to sign to continue their sport in college. Watts expresses his great appreciation for our parents. “They wanted their girls to be able to compete and play and were super supportive and understanding of our policies.”
