Sports Outlook Tennis Page 8
Basketball Page 14
Ultimate Frisbee Page 20
Rugby
Page 26
Soccer Page 34
COVID EDITION
How different sports across the world have responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Table of Contents Meet the Editors
The Ultimate Guide to Tennis During COVID-19
Get a short bio on each of the creators of this magazine.
NBA Bubble Game Plan
6 tips to help prevent the spread of COVID in tennis.
How the NBA prevented the spread of COVID-19 while playing basketball.
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18
6
Frisbee
Photo Credit (Courtyard Tennis)
Photo Credit (SEU Athletics)
Photo Credit (Jay Graves)
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14
20
Swinging Through COVID
Struggle for Normalcy
The Shutdown
How the St. Edward’s Men’s Basketball team faced adversity because of the pandemic.
See how the struggles of COVID-19 have affected the sport of Ultimate Frisbee both locally and nationally.
Explores the struggles and challenges of MAC360 Tennis Academy during the historic pandemic. 4 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
Ultimate Through the Virus
Covid Cases: US v. New Zealand
A timeline depicting all of Ultimate’s necessary postponements and cancellations in 2020.
24
Let’s Rewind A timeline of all of Major League Soccer major events.
30
Photo Credit (James Coleman)
36
Photo Credit (William Purnell)
Frisbee
Frisbee
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COVID Free
Let’s Restart
Exploring how New Zealand and its rugby league have so successfully handled COVID-19.
How Houston Dynamo Football Club faced the challenges COVID-19 created for them.
Table Of Contents - 5
Meet the Editors Vedant’s Bio: Layout Editor
Vedant Sangani
Hey, my name is Vedant Sangani. I am a freshman at LASA high school and am one of the editors for Sports Outlook: COVID Edition. In my free time, I like playing video games and love spending time with my family, whether it’s playing board games or taking long but peaceful road trips. I also love playing tennis, and practice multiple hours every day, which earned me a spot on the school’s Varsity tennis team. Ever since COVID hit, every aspect of our world has changed, and many different protocols are set in place to prevent the spread of the virus. These new changes have also impacted sports, and my passion for tennis has led me to have a new outlook on sports. I am fascinated by how the tennis community has adapted to these difficult times, to continue providing platforms for people to play tennis. My feature article takes a look at these adaptations, and how team practices and tournaments have changed to conform to the new rules and regulations put in place. I wrote about the experience of two tennis coaches, who talked about how COVID has put new restrictions on them as coaches. Their story through these historic times has been very inspirational, and I hope y’all enjoy reading it!
Adi’s Bio: Photo and Graphics Editor
Adi Pangal
6 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
Hello, I am one of the editors for Sports Outlook: COVID Edition. I am 15 years old and I am a freshman at LASA High School. When I am not in school or doing homework, I like to watch sports, play video games like Minecraft, and play board games with my family. My passion to watch sports made me want to do an article related to sports in general and because of the pandemic, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the impacts of the pandemic on sports. The sport that I focused on was basketball because I am familiar with that sport. For my feature article, I chose to write about the experience of the St. Edwards Men’s Basketball team because they were the closest professional basketball team I could get in contact with and the story of the adversity they had to face was amazing. I hope you enjoy reading our magazine!
Will’s Bio: Copy and Content Editor
Hey y’all! My name is Will Basham and I’m one of the editors for the Sports Outlook: COVID Edition. Like all other members of the group, I’m a freshman, and I’m also 15. I like to spend my free time playing Ultimate Frisbee, watching football, playing madden or playing fantasy football. I’m really into a lot of sports, including football, soccer, and Ultimate, but the latter is the only one I play at the moment, so I decided to do my feature article about it. I’ve played Ultimate for three years, with no intention of stopping anytime soon. I decided to interview my former coach in middle school, Colleen Kepner, and she was able to connect me to Steven Darroh, a former coach at a camp of hers. Ultimate during COVID has been an interesting experience so far, and I thought that football would be too hard to get people for so I decided against it. I hope you like the magazine!
Will Basham
Nathaniel’s Bio: Features Editor
My name is Nathaniel Enis, and I’m one of the editors for this magazine. I’m a freshman at LASA high school, and have lived in Austin my whole life. I usually spend my free time on computer coding or playing games, but I also love robotics and most all outdoor activities. My favourite games are Bioshock, Deus Ex, and Disco Elysium, but I also enjoy playing multiplayer games with my friends. I try to go camping, backpacking, and mountain-biking whenever I can, but I also love fly fishing. Since the beginning of COVID, I’ve been interested in how various countries handled the virus, and the results that each were getting. New Zealand has always been my favourite country due to the good fishing and scenery, so when I heard how well the virus had been handled there I immediately wanted to learn more. Writing this article was the perfect chance to do that. I hope you enjoy the read!
Nathaniel Enis
Jonathan’s Bio: Fact Check Editor
Hey, I am one of the editors of Sports Outlook: COVID Edition. I’m 14 years old, the youngest person in my group, and like everyone else, I am a freshman at Liberal Arts and Science Academy. During my spare time, I like to watch TV, play video games like Fifa, or play soccer with my friends. One thing that everyone in our group had in common was that we watched or played a sport, which made it fairly easy to decide on our topic for this magazine. I’ve played soccer ever since I was around 6 years old and I’ve had many memories along the way which make it my favorite sport. I ended up writing about a local soccer team here in the state of Texas and how they were affected by COVID ever since they first had to go into lockdown. I hope you enjoy this magazine and learn a few things.
Jonathan Renk Meet The Editors - 7
Swinging Through COVID All the impacts COVID has had on tennis and how the community has changed since then, specifically the rules and regulations that have been incorporated to prevent the spread of COVID-19. By: Vedant Sangani he stadium lights beamed down into the stands, and spectators cheered on their favorite player in the finals of the U.S. Open. Rafael Nadal and
Roger Federer entered gigantic Arthur Ash Stadium and took their seat on benches that were ready for them. Everyone rushed for their seats, pushing each other to get a better view of the two pro tennis players, not knowing
Intense Teaching - Jake Baronowski feeds balls to his student at MAC360 Tennis on Monday, March 13, 2020, with his son to motivate them, (Photo by Sean McKinely).
8 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
the dangers of the huge crowd that laid ahead. Now, the Arthur Ash Stadium remains desolate with no liveliness all because of COVID-19. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on sports such as tennis. Jake Baronowski, marketing director and coach at MAC360 Tennis Academy, and Lily Schubert, coach at MAC360 Tennis Academy are two tennis coaches and players that have been impacted by the historic COVID-19 pandemic, which started the spring break of 2020. MAC360, which is located by the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin, excels at training junior tennis players to reach their goals at recreational levels all the way to competitive levels. COVID has impacted their coaching at the tennis academy in many ways, such as finding locations to teach out of and maintaining a physical distance. COVID has also affected team practices and United States Tennis Association (USTA) junior tournaments. Right now, tennis is at a crossroads between its pre-COVID past and post-pandemic future. Personal experiences during these difficult times will shape new regulation changes, as well as how we view tennis going into this future. Baronowski experienced challenges of being a coach that have never been seen before. Due to COVID, his academy, the primary location he teaches out of, had to
shut down, which presented all types of challenges. He describes it as being scary at the time and not knowing what was going on, so he had to find creative solutions to the ever-growing problem. “It was unfortunate because we didn’t know what was going on, so it was kind of scary to even be out of the house. So as far as teaching, I had to find some local neighborhood courts and teach around there, and then I reached out to all the people that I teach … and we just don’t have any interaction. Because we are on opposite sides of the net, which is more than 6 feet apart, I felt more comfortable with teaching and in that setting and still being able to give out information. So I guess the biggest challenge was finding locations,” Baronowski said. In addition to the trouble of
“22% tennis participation increased in 2020. There’s 3 million new players that picked up a racket, which is a 44% increase, and 4 million more tennis players played tennis in 2020 than in 2019.” —Jake Baronowski
finding courts, maintaining physical distance with friends has caused a
Graduation - Lily Schubert (left) and Jake Baronowski (right) smile at the camera at MAC360 Tennis Academy after Schubert signs to play with Austin College. They hold up the Anderson symbol, where Schubert went to high school (Photo by Sean McKinley). lot of challenges. This has impacted Schubert’s coaching during COVID because changes are being seen to the way drills were done before. “I know whenever Mac360 was going on before COVID, we were all pretty joined together, especially during fitness drills and after practice. So, having to change the way we do running drills and stuff was kind of interesting,” Schubert said. Team practices and tournaments have also had significant changes from pre-COVID times. There were many rules and regulations that clubs and tournaments had to follow in order to remain safe during COVID. When MAC360 practices came on, they had to make sure that they only had six people on a court, and if they had to go over by one, they would have them do fitness drills like jumping jacks to keep them moving while continuing to follow Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention guidelines. In addition to this, MAC360 created pods in order in order to make sure there wasn’t too many children in close proximity. “We still don’t want to have groups congregating but we’re more comfortable having more than six kids on the court, and we just try to make them move the best as possible. The biggest change [from before COVID] would be that we used to have all the kids change from court to court. If we have six courts working, then we will have a drill for fifteen minutes and after fifteen minutes, everybody shifts down one court. What that meant is that we might have twenty or thirty kids on one bench within a half an hour time. So, now we’ve created pods, meaning like you’re going to be with your pod, your group of eight kids for the whole day. You are Swinging Through COVID - 9
Well, yes it is. It’s kind of hard to tell them that, hey, you got to wear a mask,” Baronowski said. Tournaments directors are also taking other measures to make sure that players and coaches and parents stay safe during the tournaments. These measures control how many people are in the stands and prevent the spread through touching the same balls. “Directors have gone to only allowing one person to watch their player, so you can’t have both parents there. That makes less people at the venue. Some have also begun to give one player a can of balls and the other player a [different] can of balls. So, you might have six balls on a court where one player is using the number two balls and the other player is using the number one balls, indicating which balls are theirs and which balls are the opponent’s,” Baronowski said. In addition to the pods and not allowing a whole family to watch you play, tournaments established a virtual check-in that limited the interaction between people at the tournament desk. “USTA has implemented a
Serving through the Wind - Lily Schubert tosses a ball and practices her service motion at MAC360 Tennis Academy during a windy day on Thursday, April 16,2020. (Photo by Jake Baronowski). not going to mingle or you are not going to trade anything outside the court, you are not going to trade things that you have touched with other kids, balls, baskets anything like that,” Baronowski said. Comparingly, tournaments
10 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
also had their own struggle because you would get a larger group of people that had differentiating opinions about COVID. Most of them, especially Austinites, would be mask friendlybut there were also people that didn’t adhere to the mask mandate. “They think that’s their right.
“I had two separate girls tell me you gave them coaching and how much it helped you and I just wanted to let you know that you are doing a good job” —Lily Schubert
virtual check-in. So, whenever you get to your site to play, you have to checkin on your phone instead of at the tournament desk. So, I feel like that’s really interesting the way they were able to change that system like that,”
“Part of the tournament lifestyle [Pre-COVID] was that you could make friends that you don’t see on a regular basis and maybe you exchange numbers with them. So part of the lure of tournaments outside of just competing was seeing your friends that you don’t see ever. So hopefully post-COVID all that stuff comes back,” Baronowski said. When COVID is over, the way training, socializing, and playing tennis is done will change. “I feel like people will definitely be more cautious and not get so close to each other as much. And definitely, just more conscious about who is touching what and being more sanitary,” Schubert said.
Tennis players have had to break many barriers to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. They have had to maintain social distancing between friends, find local neighborhood courts to practice on, and have had to deal with many changes to rules and regulations in tournaments and team practices that have all posed a challenge to them. MAC360 is one of the countless organizations that have persevered. The COVID-19 pandemic cannot stop tennis players from learning how to play tennis, even in the toughest of times. People will always overcome these challenges for their passion.
Credit (Elenbushe.gmail.com)
Schubert said. Finally, the future of tennis post-pandemic had gotten a lot of differentiating views. Many people didn’t know how it was going to turn out, but had high hopes for things to get as close as possible back to normal times. There were many aspects of tournaments such as making friends that you don’t see on a daily basis that caused them to be more enjoyable than just playing tennis.
Smiling with Pride - Jake Baronowski smiles for a photo of him after coaching kids at MAC360 Tennis. He wears the MAC360 sports gear in all blue, his favorite color. (Photo by Sean McKinely).
Swinging Through COVID - 11
The Ultimate Guide to Tennis During COVID-19 Some useful tips to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Tennis By: Vedant Sangani
1. Wash your hands
Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or longer, or use a hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available, before, during, and after play. Credit: (USTA)
Credit: (USTA)
6. Arrival and Departure
Arrive as close as possible to when you need to be there. Leave the court as soon as reasonably possible. Do not use the locker room or changing area. Shower at home. No extracurricular or social activity should take place. No congregation after playing.
Credit: (USTA)
5. Use your Own Supplies Credit: (USTA)
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Use only your own towel and water bottles. Avoid sharing food and touching common surfaces such as court gates, fences, benches, etc. Use new balls and a new grip, if possible.
Credit: (USTA)
Credit: (USTA)
2. Social Distancing
Try to stay at least six feet apart from other players. Do not make physical contact with them (such as shaking hands or a high-five). Maintain physical distancing if changing ends of the court. When playing doubles, coordinate with your partner to maintain physical distancing.
3. Wear a Mask
Wear a mask over your nose and mouth at all times, except when active on the court. Some localities require masks while playing indoors. Be sure to follow local guidelines.
Credit: (USTA)
4. Avoid Touching Whenever Possible
Avoid touching your face after handling a ball, racket, or other equipment. Wash your hands promptly if you have touched your eyes, nose, or mouth. Use headbands, hats, towels, or wristbands to avoid touching your face during play. Use a wristband or towel to wipe sweat from your face. Avoid touching court gates, fences, benches, etc., if you can. Use your racket/foot to pick up balls and hit them to your opponent. Avoid using your hands to pick up the balls. If a ball from another court comes to you, send it back with a kick or with your racquet. Credit: (USTA)
Sources: - usta.com - wwhd.org - cdc.gov
Credit: (USTA)
Credit: (USTA)
The Tennis Guide During COVID-19 - 13
Struggle for Normalcy How the St. Edwards Men’s Basketball Team persevered despite the adversity caused by the pandemic. By Adi Pangal he St. Edward’s Men’s Basketball team was approaching Lubbock after traveling for six hours on a bus. There was a sense of happiness of being part of the best team in St. Edward’s history and going all the way to the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament. At that moment though, their lives would change forever. The NCAA Division II Tournament was canceled. The St. Edward’s Men’s Basketball Team represents the University of St. Edward’s located in Austin, Texas. It was March 10, 2020, when the team was traveling to a NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament in Lubbock when the tournament was canceled because of the spread of COVID-19 and concerns for the safety of the athletes and spectators involved.
Basketball player silhouette shooting. (Photo courtesy of Pixabay)
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When the team heard the news, they had to turn back. The team was shocked about why the NCAA would cancel the tournament so suddenly at that time, and the seniors of the team were solemn to see their hard work turned away. “The moment was just a roller coaster of emotions because one second we’re excited and determined to win the tournament, and the next we’re in disbelief,” said Ryan Garza, a basketball player for the St. Edward’s Men’s Basketball Team.
After the tournament got canceled and the players had their reactions, the team soon got information on why it happened. Then, the organization had to prioritize getting players home so that they were safe. “We have international guys on our roster. How are we going to get these guys home? What is the plan there? We got to organize our guys, get everybody home and situated, make sure everyone is safe,” Andre Cook, coach for the St. Edwards basketball team said. It was hectic getting the players home, but they had to get used to this kind of situation in the future. During the offseason, everything was moved online, whether it was recruiting or planning for the next season. The training camp was going to start in September, but COVID had already impacted the program before then. Although the St. Edward’s Basketball team normally had 16 or 17 people on the roster, they only had 10 for the 2020-2021 season. This was a struggle for the players on the team as this would impact their team’s success during the season.
“I could definitely say it’s a
little tiring playing a little more than usual but it’s just something we have to do,” Garza said. This wasn’t the only thing that had contributed to the exhaustion of the players.
“I’m so proud of our 10 guys try[ing] to play this season in a tough Lone Star Conference. The battle through online courses [and] to play in gyms with no people in them.” —Andre Cook
tricky. Before the season officially started, players had to train in stages because of COVID-19. The first stage started in September where the coaches wore masks and gloves and would train players one-on-one as Cook described. After a couple of weeks, coaches would train players in groups of 4, with all of them required to wear masks and to test more frequently. These tests were done with nasal swabs, which Cook described as uncomfortable. Finally, on October 15, there would be full contact with everyone playing practice games. Everyone had to wear masks, and they were constantly being tested. Additionally, after the players were done training in the weight room, they had to wipe everything down, and the players
could only enter, change, and exit the locker room, which meant no conversations in there. Even if the team practiced hard, they could not guarantee that they would play basketball. This is because COVID introduced many new rules and regulations to play basketball games. “We have to test twice a week now just to play a basketball game, and not only do we have to test negative, [but we also] have to rely on the other team to test negative,” Garza said. They also had to fill out an app questionnaire about what symptoms they had so they could get a green badge which allowed them to go to practice and play the next game. On top of that, they always had to wear their masks during practice, plus limit
(SEU Athletics)
When COVID-19 came, it forced many states, sports leagues, and counties to have a set of guidelines that teams and players should follow. For St. Edward’s team, Cook said that they had to follow rules from the NCAA, St. Edward’s, The Lone Star Conference, Travis County, and the City of Austin. This meant that they had to find a way to follow all the guidelines given to them, which was
Cheering on his team-Andre Cook cheering on his team while they play basketball before COVID-19. (Photo courtesy of SEU Athletics)
Struggle for Normalcy - 15
Outstanding Shooting - B.J Maxwell (left) playing for St. Edwards attempts a shot against Matija Novkovic playing for Texas A&M International university during COVID-19 in Austin, Texas. (Photo Credit: SEU Athletics)
interaction outside of practice so that no one on the team would not contract the virus and they could play games. COVID-19 changed not just what a player needed to do to play games, but also the coach’s mentality. The St. Edward’s Basketball Team was in the Lone Star Conference, described by Cook as a tough conference. He said he was prouder of his guys this season compared to a normal season for all that they have had to go through to play basketball and had become more lenient, saying that he was less
16 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
irritated if a player messed up a one of their basketball techniques. Even with the coach’s mentality changing, players were missing out on some memorable moments from basketball because of COVID. “The wins are great [and] losses are tough, but you think about all those times together as a team in the locker room, the celebrations, all those things that these guys aren’t able to get this year,” Cook said.
Fans also make memorable
moments for players, and these moments could not happen this year. According to Garza, fans take any sport to the next level, and to see hundreds of fans support one team or against a team was a memorable experience for them. The noise that the fans made had such a great effect on the games and not having them changed the atmosphere of the games this year. This team had faced many physical barriers because of the pandemic but there were also mental barriers too.
Slick Moves- Ryan Garza (center) playing for St. Edwards dribbles away from Markques Houston (left) playing for St. Marys deciding what his next move will be. This was before COVID-19 and was played in the Bill Greehey Arena located in San Antonio. (Photo Courtesy of SEU Athletics)
“I think they are tired of the daily grind.” Cook said. There were so many things that they had to do every day just to be able to play a couple of games. There were ways that the team combated the mental health impacts. Basketball was one way they had dealt with it. According to Garza, basketball saved his year and was a safe haven for him. The team also communicated through Facetime and other social media platforms. These platforms allowed players to express their feelings in funny ways. “Knowing I just have a teammate just a phone call away or text message away or who’s willing to send funny posts or tweets back and forth... It’s comforting, definitely on a mental level,” Garza said.
Another way the team dealt
“To say goodbye and put a halt to some of those friendships was definitely disappointing, but I mean of course I full[ly] respect their decision [for] their safety.” —Ryan Garza with mental health was with their
family. Even if their family lived around the world, they could still communicate with them. “Talking to my mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt whoever I could get a hold of [has] been a big help in keeping my mind sane,” Garza said. Whether it be family, friends or basketball, all of them helped the team through COVID. This was a once in a lifetime experience and the players of the St. Edward’s Men’s Basketball Team had to face adversity through these difficult times and they made the most of it. As Cook said, “I’ve had some really good seasons as a coach [and] some that haven’t been so great but, I will never ever forget this 2021 St. Edward’s basketball team because of what we had to deal with.”
Struggle for Normalcy - 17
The NBA Bubble Game plan
How the NBA prevented the spread of COVID-19 using a bubble with experience from Dr. Eaton of VA Health By Adi Pangal When a player comes to the bubble, they isolate for 48 hours until they have two negative tests. This is a forced quarantine which has helped other countries to control the outbreak.
COVID-19 Testing
Technology
The NBA made an app where players have to put their symptoms every to help identify if someone might have COVID-19.
How the NBA prevented the spread of COVID-19
Limits for People
Location
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Only 37 personnel per team are allowed to be in the bubble. This number increases as teams make the playoffs.
22 NBA teams are staying at three different hotels. This means teams will have less contact with each other.
The players wore a magic band that helps keep track of where players go. It also makes sure that players don’t forget to fill the app out.
The players were required to test their temperature and oxygen levels. These items are normally used at hospitals for diagnosis.
Before the season starts, players were tested every other day. According to Dr. Eaton, this shows how the NBA cared about the safety of players.
Players wore a smart ring that helped detect COVID symptoms early.
If a player leaves the bubble and comes back, they get tested and quarantined for 10-14 days and they lose pay. No COVID-19 Cases
The bubble is being held at a single location which is the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. The NBA said that the families of the players can’t come until the playoffs. According to Dr. Eaton, this is so that players have mental support in the playoffs.
In the NBA bubble, no fans are allowed to come to the games. According to Dr. Eaton, this is because it is hard to enforce regulations.
Sources • • • •
Dr. Jeffrey Eaton from VA Health USA Today- How the NBA prevented the spread of covid with tech Sporting News- A summary of the NBA bubble ESPN- Medical protocols used in the bubble
NBA Bubble Game Plan - 19
The Shutdown Ulimate Frisbee’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic-= everything that had to be cancelled or postponed. By Will Basham
N
ot everyone’s heard of Ultimate Frisbee, the up and coming sport which has been gradually gaining popularity among younger and older athletes alike. Under the pressure induced by COVID-19, Ultimate and the perseverance of its community really shows why it’s going to be the next great game. Ultimate Frisbee was growing phenomenally in 2019. Professional leagues such as the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), the men’s pro league, as well as the Premier Ultimate League (PUL), the women’s pro league, were picking up steam. Equity in the national state of the sport was being tackled. Big strides were being made in the local community as well, with youth 20 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
The LASA A team after winning a miniature tournament in southwest Austin on May 8, 2021. Photo courtesy of Justin Xia
leagues run by the Ultimate Players League of Austin (UPLA) gaining more and more popularity among middle and high school students, plus the Texas Ultimate Summer Camp (TUSC), which allowed younger players to interact with older seasoned veterans and improve their games over a week in the summer. But in March 2020, the Coronavirus hit the United States, causing quarantine and wrecking the sport. Almost everything was shut down, ranging from camps to professional leagues to local events.
But slowly and safely, Ultimate started to come back, with organizers and captains working hard to bring back the sport. One of the most impactful people in Ultimate’s return has been Colleen Kepner. “If I were to describe my busiest month, which is probably April, it would probably be at least one to two hours per day,” said Kepner, the founder, director, and manager of the Texas Ultimate Summer Camp. “[During COVID-19,] it probably took
four hours a week,” she said. Kepner has been a part of the Ultimate community for 17 years, and has many connections within organizations such as both the PUL and individuals who she coached and then went on to play professionally. In April 2020, Kepner decided to cancel all in person TUSC events to ensure everyone was as safe as possible. To compensate for that loss, she pivoted to TUSC Online, with former players and coaches hopping into zoom sessions with up and coming youth players to virtually work on specific concepts and drills. A part of this were individual skills sessions, where the coaches and players talked one-on-one about specific strategic points. But other than TUSC Online, all of Ultimate was practically halted. In person events such as the world tournaments in the Netherlands and youth club championships in Minnesota were canceled. The UPLA, which runs all Ultimate in Austin, shut down all youth and adult Ultimate indefinitely. But not just local Ultimate
Nathan Lee, a frehman ultimate player at LASA, throws a disc in a game against Westlake on March 14, 2021. Photo courtesy of Jay Graves
was shafted, leagues across North America have been shut down. “Ultimate went into hibernation. We had no options,” recalled Kepner, who also co-founded and manages
“Ultimate went into hibernation. We had no options,” —Colleen Kepner
General Manager of the Austin Torch Colleen Kepner visits with the team at a practice in 2019 at House Park. Photo courtesy of Colleen Kepner
the Austin Torch. The PUL, of which the Torch is a part of, suspended the season relatively early, around March 20, according to then commissioner Tim “Bonesaw” Kepner. The PUL had insider information into the pandemic,
since it is based in Atlanta and one of the women on the Atlanta Soul worked for the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. “All of ultimate it feels like got shut down,” added Steven Darroh, a former professional player and coach who participated in TUSC Online. The Masters Tournament, in which Darroh was an annual participant, was canceled. Organized events such as Masters were replaced by small clinics and workouts with friends. “To put it as concisely as I can, everything got canceled. Individual games, tournaments, every camp I know of, competitive ultimate training camp, national ultimate training camp, TUSC, canceled. International play got canceled. Everything was nixed,” said Kepner. “We were frozen in time.” Other than the shutdown, the The Shutdown - 21
financial ramifications of a lost year have also been troubling. On that subject, Darroh said, “I’d guess a lot of people lost a lot of money.” The AUDL attempted a bubble in April, but it was not successful and eventually was halted. The season was suspended, but the administration which runs the league is hoping to start a new, safer season in April or May 2021. All youth and most adult Ultimate requires a mask for the safety of all the players involved. Ultimate is a sport where players generally are in close contact with each other, especially when someone has a disc. Most youth ultimate players have been playing, but some haven’t due to safety agitations.
At LASA specifically, Declan Jackson and other captains made a geographically based pod system,
“The people that like doing [Ultimate] are the people that are doing it, and those same people will still like doing it.” —Steven Darroh
with four pods opening up around Austin, each holding eight person mini practices twice a week. This speaks to the devotion young players have to the sport. “We’ve been seeing huge growth, and not just in the youth community in terms of numbers, but the investment in the sport of Ultimate in the youth community. I think there was this real commitment and ground swell of young players who were really dedicating themselves to the sport, and to being better players and better people, and that was showing in the growth,” stated Kepner, alluding to the local growth of Ultimate. In 2004, one of Kepner’s summer programs would have 13-17 players, but in 2019, TUSC had over 100
LASA Ulltimate captain and junior AJ Leigh faces off against a westlake player on the fourteenth of March, 2021, at Westlake’s home field. Photo courtesy of Jay Graves
22 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
participants. This demonstrates that locally, youth Ultimate participation has ballooned in recent years. But not just local ultimate had been growing. “Every year, the AUDL was slightly more popular,” added Darroh, focusing on the national state of the sport rather than locally like Kepner. “Ultimate nationally and internationally was growing in huge ways, and that was having a direct effect on the growth of the community locally, with us here,” affirmed Kepner. Another concern of organizers is that after the shutdown ends, some players, especially older players, might walk away from the sport, either due to disinterest
Lasa senior Hayden Prarie handles a frisbee in the game against Westlake. Photo courtesy of Jay Graves
or retirement age. But in terms of the youth community, there is less unease that players might quit. “The people that like doing [Ultimate] are the people that are doing it, and those same people will still like doing it. I would say that it would pick up where it left off,” Darroh said about how Ultimate will change after restrictions are lifted. This displays Kepner’s point of commitment and dedication. Ultimate Frisbee’s fall and rise during COVID-19 really highlights what’s great about it. Not just the determination by players and coaches, but the comradery too differentiates the sport from its competitors. Once precautions are lifted and Ultimate returns in full form, the game will continue growing and growing like never before.
Courtesty of vecteezy.com
The Shutdown - 23
Ultimate Through The Virus How precautions and cancellations have affected the sport of Ultimate Frisbee throughout COVID-19 By Will Basham
D
-Netherlands World Championship announced -Largest youth base ever -AUDL (American Ultimate Disc League) set to begin their fourth season -PUL (Premier Ultimate League) set to begin their second season
CANCELLE
Credit: UPLA
D
CANCELLE
-PUL immediately suspends season -AUDL attempts bubble similar to the NBA -Bubble is unsuccessful: AUDL suspends season
Credit: WMUC
March 20
20 April 202
Pre-Covi
d
-Netherlands world championship postponed and then cancelled -Local ultimate (youth, pros, etc) cancelled indefinitely -UPLA (Ultimate Players League of Austin) suspends season -Quarantine begins
Credit: AUDL
Credit: PUL
24 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
0
E
LIN MOVED ON
-Pods for youth ultimate form around Austin -Small workouts with groups of players are run -Miniature clinics formed
Credit: TUSC
0 January 2
21
June 2020 r2 Septembe
-2020 World Masters tournament cancelled -TUSC (Texas Ultimate Summer Camp) cancelled in person -TUSC online is formed -All 2020 world events and tournaments indefinitely postponed
020
-Due to stage 5 in Austin, local pods disband temporarily -AUDL announces hopes for a 2021 season starting in April -Youth ultimate roundtable conducted by Colleen Kepner
Sources: -Colleen Kepner, founder/manager of TUSC -Steven Darroh, former SOL coach -Official AUDL website (theaudl. com) -Official PUL website (premier ultimateleague.com)
Ultimate Through the Virus - 25
COVID-Free Exploring how New-Zealand and its rugby league have handled Covid-19 so successfully. By: Nathaniel Enis
S
ports are one of the most universal forms of entertainment, and COVID-19 has affected every single one of them in some way or another. Rugby, the national sport of New Zealand, is no exception. Ever since the inception of this pandemic, there has been continuous heated debate about the measures we should put in place and the precautions that we should take to ensure the safety of every athlete and fan.
In America, over a year later, COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions for sports are still constantly changing. This obviously begs the question, what if we had handled it differently from the beginning? Each country, with their own respective sports has responded vastly differently to this virus, and some have clearly had better results than others. The most notable example of this is New Zealand. With under 30 deaths,
A view of Auckland New-Zealand Dan Freeman October 4 2017
and less than five new cases a day, this isolated island has been able to stay at the top in terms of the safety and health of their citizens. After on and off shutdowns for the past year, the New-Zealand Rugby League is finally hosting full force games, with tens of thousands of unmasked people at almost no risk. The road to this level of success wasn’t an easy one however, and both the country and rugby league alike have had to face many challenges. The first case of COVID-19 in New-Zealand was confirmed Feb. 28, 2020. The government immediately responded by establishing a National Health Coordination Center, and banning any entry to the country from China. In addition, they also sponsored repatriation flights for returning citizens. The government was coordinated and concise with their actions, and responded
A couple wearing Masks at the beggining of quarantine. Julian Wan April 7 2020
26 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
quickly and efficiently to the events that were unfolding. They got initial good results without having to shut down the country, so Rugby Games could continue happening. The United States, on the other hand, handled the situation very differently. Neesha Thaaker, a clinical pharmacy manager at St. David’s Hospital, said that the U.S. government could have responded much better and have been much more prepared than they were. “One thing that happened way prior to the coronavirus pandemic was the defunding of research and tracking of potential pandemics. I think that if we had that funding in place early on we would have caught and been able to manage the pandemic much sooner that we were able to. And of
“I think that the ones that initially seemed to have done a good job were South Korea and New Zealand. I think that New Zealand is an island, it’s very difficult to get in and out, so I don’t think that’s a very good model for the United States” —Andrew Pelphrey
course, it’s like trying to put toothpaste back in a tube, once the virus is out and spreading it’s much harder to control that when it’s contained,” Thaaker said. Later in March, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern closed New-Zealand’s borders to all non-citizens. Due to the isolated nature of New Zealand, stopping travel was both easy and effective. This tactic however may not have been feasible for a country as large and traveled as the United States. Andrew Pelphrey, a nephrologist at Austin Kidney Associates commented on this. “Initially, I didn’t think that we could keep it out of the country. I thought
“With Covid you can have cases not have symptoms and it’s still very easily transmissible. I think that when I understood that part that really did concern me.” —Neesha Thaaker
that the attempts to limit travel were understandable, but it seemed to me like it was something that was not going to work. Just because of the ease of spread it only takes [only] one person to start a new center, Thousands of fans gather for a rugby Game at Westpac Stadium in Wellington New Zealand. James Coleman June 16 2018
COVID-Free - 27
so I thought that [the outbreak] was going to happen.” He also listed countries that seemed to have handled the virus well, referencing New Zealand specifically. “I think that the ones that initially seemed to have done a good job were South Korea and New Zealand. I think that New Zealand is an island, it’s very difficult to get in and out, so I don’t think that’s a very good model for the United States” Pelphrey said. Around this time, the Auckland Council closed all recreational centres, including the New Zealand rugby league. For reference, in the U.S. the NFL didn’t order the shutdown of all in-person activities until late November, over eight months later. This very immediate and harsh
lockdown on New Zealand is one of the primary reasons why cases have stayed so low, but for this to work both government officials and New-Zealand citizens had to trust the data and science coming from trusted sources. According to Neesha Thaaker, the opposite occurred in the United States. “I think that we were dealing with a lot of partial information about Covid, we got bits and pieces of information that the Chinese government provided us. We were able to make preliminary decisions and assumptions based on the data that we had and I think that the biggest difference would be to trust the science and the preliminary data opposed to argue against it. That means more masking, more staying at home, more support for vaccine rollout, more of a lockdown measure
The New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team preparing for a game. Stefan lehner November 24 1019
28 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
despite the impacts to the economy, and I think that would have really saved us a lot of death and morbidity and mortality from Coronavirus.” Thakker said. Despite the economic downfalls, the border restrictions and lockdown measures worked well, and began to be lifted throughout April and June, including the return of sports and other recreational activities. Things continued as normal until August, when a new outbreak began to arise. Like before, the New Zealand government was quick to respond, and reinstated the lockdown measures. On Sept. 17 2020, the country officially entered a recession.
ly recover. By the end of the year, New Zealand had seen 0.4% economic growth, and unemployment dropped 4.9%.
Andrew Pelphrey MD, Austin Kidney Associates. Courtesy of Andrew Phephrey
With the rollout of the vaccine, the rest of the world hopefully has an end in sight for this virus, but for New Zealand the end has already passed. With under 3,000 current cases, life has returned to normal for the country’s citizens. Was it worth the effort and economic effects? That’s unclear, but they certainly have done something right to see these kinds of results.
The strict lockdown and travel-ban
Toppng.com Sep 19 2019
“We were dealing with a lot of partial information about Covid, that you know, we got bits and pieces of information that the Chinese government provided us.” —Andrew Pelphrey
had negatively affected the entire country economically. Unemployment was up, and all business and industry suffered. The lockdown continued, as New Zealand worked to completely rid the country of the pandemic. On Oct. 11 2020, after a nearly seven month hiatus, a rugby match between New-Zealand and Australia occurred. Over 30,000 people gathered maskless at Wellington Stadium to watch the game, and there were no reported coronavirus cases. The virus had for now at least, been successfully dealt with. As the country began to reopen, the economy also began to sharp-
COVID-Free - 29
Covid Cases US v. New-Zealand
By Nathaniel Enis
Bigger bubbles represent more confirmed Covid-19 cases. Green means low density, yellow means medium density, and orange and red mean high density
Texas and California Combined have more COVID-19 cases than there are people in New Zealand 30 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
There are no US states with less total COVID-19 cases than New Zealand as a whole
About 0.09% of the US population has been confirmed to have COVID, while about 0.005% of New Zealand’s Population has. As of May 2021, New Zealand only has 2,664 confirmed COVID-19 cases, compared to the United States’ 32 million.
New Zealand has had nearly half the COVID-19 death-rate of the US.
Sources: • • •
John Hopkins University, Covid-19 Map by region Ministry of Health, Covid-19: Current Cases The World Bank, Coronavirus Pandemic Through Data
US v. New Zealand - 31
Let’s Restart A close up on the efforts of the Houston Dynamo Football Club to resume play during the COVID-19 pandemic By: Jonathan Renk
“
W
e were 2 games into the season when it all shut down. Nobody really knew what was going to happen. Everything was just kind of on hold,” said Zac Emmons, the vice president of Marketing and Communications of Houston Dynamo. March 12, 2020, was the day on which COVID-19’s impact struck the Houston Dynamo and Major League Soccer. COVID-19 had already shut down many sports around the world at the time. Baseball, volleyball, soccer, to name a few, but the U.S. handled this virus quite a bit differently than other countries, which caused the Major League Soccer season to be
postponed for a long time.
“When everything shut down last year, our women’s team had been in pre-season for, I think, a week” —Zac Emmons
Zac Emmons, the Vice President of Marketing and Communications of Houston Dynamo Football Club spoke about a few
Photo Courtesy of Houston Dynamo
32 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
Throughout those months, teams faced many problems both economic and physical. In July 2020, Major League Soccer created a tournament for all the teams to compete in as a placeholder while they waited for it to be safe enough to resume the regular season. Around three quarters into the year, the regular season restarted and things have slowly but safely started to go back to normal.
problems the club had during the time and some challenges that are coming up for the 2021 season. “We still need to keep the community engaged, but do it in a safe way, and so that really was a challenge for myself and for my team. We couldn’t take players in the schools because that was all shut down, we couldn’t do traditional community relations,” Emmons said. Houston Dynamo’s lack of engagement with the community can affect the amount of revenue the club is bringing in. And since they are also not playing any games at the time, their revenue was depleted even more. “We really got creative sort of leaning into technology with things like Zoom and Skype and things like that and used the opportunity at that point when things were quiet to really focus more on our players as people and their own personal stories, rather than just what they do for a living which is playing soccer,” Emmons said.
While the Dynamo was trying to engage with the community, they were also working constantly with the league management, trying to set a date as to when the season would restart.. “I’m proud that the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) was the first league in America to come back in mid June. They did it in a bubble type of format, (a bubble type format is where all teams play
“The women are playing in a bubble in Utah, the men are playing in a bubble in Orlando, how do we cover this?” —Zac Emmons
their games in one location) I’m also proud to say that the Challenge Cup and Major League Soccer was the first men’s league to come back in July,” Emmons said. Not having community relations and not playing games were two major problems that they managed to overcome, but Houston Dynamo weren’t done yet. There were still a few more things that had to be done to get everything back to normal. “What’s the next step? We did the bubble and that was successful. How do we bring teams back into their home markets and play games at home and do it in a safe way?” Emmons asked. In order to restore play in Houston, there were more people and organizations that Dynamo had to be contact. When they went to Orlando, Major League Soccer had already made agreements with the local city to play. But for the regular season to have restarted, all the teams around the nation had to make their agreements with their local government. If they didn’t, they would not have been able to continue the season. “Our stadium operations team and our senior executive staff are continually meeting with the city of Houston Harris County medical experts from both along with Major
Player from Sporting Kansas City attempts to dribble around a Houston Dynamo player at Children’s Mercy Park, March 7th , 2020. (Photo courtesy of William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports)
Let’s Restart - 33
League Soccer with evidence and statistics to work through what those protocols needed to be. “There was a lot of planning, a lot of conversation discussion about what’s the right thing to do? What’s the right capacity to be at? We ultimately decided that, although I think the governor at the time had allowed 25% capacity, 30, 50% capacity, we only went out with about 15%. We wanted to make sure that we had more than enough room in between each group and seats, and we really worked hard,” Emmons said.
“Yeah, I think there was a lot of lessons to learn initially. A lot of firsts and none of us had dealt with anything like this at any level, so a lot of going slow to begin with and asking questions and really being thoughtful about how to handle it rather than just rushing to get back and say we are the first ones back... we want to make sure we did it right. —Zac Emmons
A few safety precautions that are being taken this season are things such as hand sanitizer dispensers, contact-free ticket scanning, contact-free concession ordering, just to name a few. Houston Dynamo has gone through quite a few problems these last few months but just recently, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott had said that everyone could now open up at 100% capacity and no masks would be required. Despite that, the Dynamo decided to stick with their safety precautions. “Yeah, we will require masks. That and we’ll have about 30% capacity at the stadium, which for us equates to about a little over 6,500 seats, stadiums use 22,000 total, and that’s in line with what Major League Soccer has recommended for all the
34 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
Houston Dynamo player Romell Quioto celebrates a goal against Sporting Kansas City in the 2018 U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals, July 18, 2018. They would later go on to win the final against Philadelphia Union. (Photo Courtesy of Houston Dynamo)
stadiums across the league,” Emmons said Cassandra Piñon is a nurse in Mission, Texas who has learned a lot about the virus these past months “Although the best way to stay safe is to stay away from large crowds, wearing a mask and washing your hands regularly are some of the better ways to stay safe in a large crowd,” Piñon said “We’d rather, take our time getting back to full capacity and make sure that we do it safely and do it right, rather than rush into it, just because we want to be really thoughtful on how we approach it and be a little bit more methodical in it” Emmons said. Although COVID-19 created many obstacles for Major League Soccer and its teams, Houston Dynamo has managed to find creative ways to overcome them and continue growing. Surely enough, once COVID ends, the fans and sport will come back stronger than ever.
Houston Dynamo player is fouled during their first game in the MLS Is Back tournament, July 13, 2020 (Photo courtesy of Major League Soccer)
Houston Dynamo Stadium, July 4, 2018. The stadium is consistently ranked among the best in the MLS and has one of the best atmospheres, which is often attributed to Houston’s diverse and international population. (Photo by Eric Moreno)
“I think none of us can predict what’s going to happen. I think the best thing we can do is continue to plan, and be as safe as possible.” —Zac Emmons
Let’s Restart - 35
Major League Soccer History
By: Jonathan Renk
Let’s go back in time to see the beginnings of the league
1993, MLS is founded by Lamar Hunt Credit: MLS
2019, MLS award franchise to Austin, TX and St. Louis, MS with plans to start their seasons in 2021 and 2021 respectively
1995, First MLS season has started
2018, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is considered one of the best MLS players of all time, joins LA Galaxy.
9
Credit: Austin FC
Credit: St.Louis City SC
36 - Sports Outlook: COVID Edition
1996, D.C. United win the first MLS Cup
1999, the first soccer-specific stadium in the States is opened. Cost was $28.5 million
2010, Thierry Henry joins New York Red Bulls, increasing league interest even more
2007, David Beckam joins LA Galaxy on a 250 million dollar deal, increasing interest in the league
Sources: Britannica MLS The Dallas Morning News Reuters.com AustinFC StLouis City SC
Let’s Rewind - 37
Sports Outlook: COVID Edition