Ath­letic De­part­ment Evolves to Meet Chal­lenges Amid Pan­demic

Bethel Uni­ver­sity Ath­letic Di­rec­tor Tony Na­tali is re­main­ing pos­i­tive de­spite the COVID-19 pan­demic. He wants stu­dent ath­letes to play a fall sea­son, but he also un­der­stands the health safety mea­sures needed. 

“It’s our job – it’s my job – to make sure that the stu­dent ath­letes are safe,” Na­tali said. “And…make sure they have the best chance to have their sea­sons as pos­si­ble.” 

The ath­letic de­part­ment is fol­low­ing NAIA and CDC guide­lines to meet the stan­dards to pre­vent spread­ing the virus. Orig­i­nally, the NAIA Coun­cil of Pres­i­dents re­quired a neg­a­tive PCR test for all NAIA ath­letes and coaches prior to com­pe­ti­tion. Since all fall cham­pi­onships have been de­layed to the spring, the COP de­cided to can­cel the orig­i­nal test­ing pro­to­col. 

Now, test­ing is left up to con­fer­ences and in­sti­tu­tions to de­cide. Na­tali said he felt more at peace re­quir­ing all Bethel ath­letes and coaches to be tested once be­fore com­pe­ti­tion. The fall sport ath­letes will be tested first, fol­lowed by win­ter and spring sports. 

The plan is to have all Bethel stu­dent-ath­letes tested by Sep­tem­ber 9. Head Ath­letic Trainer Sarah Hauck is over­see­ing all test­ing. 

If an ath­lete does test pos­i­tive for COVID-19, Hauck will co­or­di­nate with Stu­dent Life to go over pro­ce­dures for quar­an­ti­ning. Na­tali said the ath­letic de­part­ment and Stu­dent Life are us­ing a flow chart to de­ter­mine what hap­pens in each sit­u­a­tion. 

“I feel like we’re very well pre­pared,” Na­tali said. “I feel like it’s very or­ga­nized. It’s just a mat­ter of fol­low­ing the pro­to­cols if and when that would hap­pen.” 

All teams can prac­tice if they fol­low so­cial dis­tanc­ing rules and wear masks. Ac­cord­ing to the NAIA, ath­letes are re­quired to be screened every day their team meets for ac­tiv­i­ties and meet­ings. 

The ath­letic de­part­ment re­leased its own pro­to­cols for both par­tic­i­pants and fans. Some tem­po­rary changes in­clude no hand­shakes be­tween play­ers and a 250-per­son cap for event at­ten­dance. 

Mi­nor pro­ce­dural changes are also be­ing in­sti­tuted for cer­tain sports. For in­stance, vol­ley­ball teams can­not switch benches be­tween sets and the chairs must be dis­tanced apart. 

Some sports are not af­fected by the new pro­ce­dures as much as other sports. The Bethel Es­ports teams are sched­uled to be­gin their in­au­gural sea­son with­out hav­ing to meet their op­po­nents in per­son. 

“One of the in­ter­est­ing things about Es­ports is that…we’re not hav­ing in-per­son com­pe­ti­tions,” Es­ports Di­rec­tor Daniel Wort said. “Every­thing is typ­i­cally done on­line.” 

When the South Bend Cen­tury Cen­ter is fin­ished ren­o­vat­ing the Ben­dix Arena in late Oc­to­ber, Bethel Es­ports will host tour­na­ments. For now, the Es­ports teams are play­ing their matches re­motely in a tem­po­rary fa­cil­ity. 

Along with strong re­ten­tion rates and re­cruit­ing, the ad­di­tion of the Es­ports team con­tributes to the ath­letic de­part­men­t’s ex­pan­sion. Na­tali said the de­part­ment has 40 more ath­letes than last year. 

“We’re work­ing very hard to main­tain the cul­ture we started last year be­fore every­thing hit,” Na­tali said. “We’re just con­tin­u­ing to take that to an­other level this year.” 

The size of the ath­letic de­part­ment is about to ex­pand even more. Es­ports is search­ing for two to four walk-on play­ers to join the Rocket League and Su­per Smash Bros. teams. 

Wort said the Su­per Smash Bros. team is look­ing to host a cam­pus-wide one-on-one tour­na­ment. One or two of the top-qual­i­fy­ing play­ers at the end of the tour­na­ment will be of­fered a walk-on spot. The Rocket League team is re­cruit­ing cur­rent Bethel stu­dents to try out pri­vately or com­pete in a scrim­mage. 

“If we would have a scrim­mage set up against an­other team, then that in­di­vid­ual would par­tic­i­pate as part of our team,” Wort said. 

For more in­for­ma­tion, in­ter­ested stu­dents can con­tact Wort at Daniel.Wort@bethelu­ni­ver­sity.edu.