CaneSport has a 4 part series for their interview with Manny Diaz. I’ll update as more series are released but here are the 1st two.
Part 1:
Coach Manny Diaz says “in the ballpark” of 65 players are currently on campus doing outdoor work, with the goal of June 15 to be able to safely move into the Indoor Practice Facility / weight room.
For now Diaz says players are treating Greentree Practice Field as “a park,” where they can do voluntary workouts. And no, the normal 7-on-7 or 1-on-1’s are not part of the equation due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s curtailed because that would get our numbers too big on the field, too much close contact,” Diaz told CaneSport. “They’ve been mainly going out in position groups or working on their own just running sprints.”
There is route running and throwing, and whatever other exercises or drills the student-athletes want to do without lining up next to or across from one another.
“If we get approval we’ll work the guys back in here (to the building) on the 15th, Diaz said. “That would come after a series of testing, screening, all those kind of things.”
Diaz stressed that workouts now … and starting the 15th … will be voluntary. But it’s expected the vast majority of the team will participate.
“It’s the time of year where you can have strength coach supervision, trainers there,” Diaz said. “But it’s not in a mandatory setting.”
The Alabama program recently dealt with players testing positive for COVID-19, and while Diaz says HIPAA laws would prevent him from revealing any results of testing on his team, a plan is in place if there is a positive test.
“We will roll that out, and that will come from the medical experts on campus,” Diaz said.
Diaz says he’s stressed patience to his players who are itching to get back to some sense of normalcy.
“This has been a series of steps, no different than a restaurant being closed except for delivery and then opening 25 percent, then 50 percent,” Diaz said. “We’ve all acknowledged that there would be a gradual progression coming out of the shelter-in-place, and we’re no different than that whether that’s the groups we work out in, our access to the facility and all of that. It’s all going to come in steps, and the reason is we’ve seen what’s changed in just a month’s time. We don’t know what things will look like July 1, it might be much, much better. You take little steps so you can reassess what the plan is.”
Eventually, the hope is, those little steps will lead up to the season beginning as scheduled.
But what happens if, say, an opponent has a player test positive the week before a game? That team would likely go into a 10-day lockdown without practices and then need to get back in game-ready shape.
That could mean a three-game window of missed time with a single positive test.
Diaz’s take on that potential scenario?
“We certainly have thought about it - it is far away, and we don’t know where we’ll be at,” Diaz said. “We’ll know by the fall. That’s one thing all the leagues are working out is what will be the uniform (rule). We have all these conferences and everyone has to have a similar plan on what the rules of engagement are every week for competition.
Part 1:
Coach Manny Diaz says “in the ballpark” of 65 players are currently on campus doing outdoor work, with the goal of June 15 to be able to safely move into the Indoor Practice Facility / weight room.
For now Diaz says players are treating Greentree Practice Field as “a park,” where they can do voluntary workouts. And no, the normal 7-on-7 or 1-on-1’s are not part of the equation due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s curtailed because that would get our numbers too big on the field, too much close contact,” Diaz told CaneSport. “They’ve been mainly going out in position groups or working on their own just running sprints.”
There is route running and throwing, and whatever other exercises or drills the student-athletes want to do without lining up next to or across from one another.
“If we get approval we’ll work the guys back in here (to the building) on the 15th, Diaz said. “That would come after a series of testing, screening, all those kind of things.”
Diaz stressed that workouts now … and starting the 15th … will be voluntary. But it’s expected the vast majority of the team will participate.
“It’s the time of year where you can have strength coach supervision, trainers there,” Diaz said. “But it’s not in a mandatory setting.”
The Alabama program recently dealt with players testing positive for COVID-19, and while Diaz says HIPAA laws would prevent him from revealing any results of testing on his team, a plan is in place if there is a positive test.
“We will roll that out, and that will come from the medical experts on campus,” Diaz said.
Diaz says he’s stressed patience to his players who are itching to get back to some sense of normalcy.
“This has been a series of steps, no different than a restaurant being closed except for delivery and then opening 25 percent, then 50 percent,” Diaz said. “We’ve all acknowledged that there would be a gradual progression coming out of the shelter-in-place, and we’re no different than that whether that’s the groups we work out in, our access to the facility and all of that. It’s all going to come in steps, and the reason is we’ve seen what’s changed in just a month’s time. We don’t know what things will look like July 1, it might be much, much better. You take little steps so you can reassess what the plan is.”
Eventually, the hope is, those little steps will lead up to the season beginning as scheduled.
But what happens if, say, an opponent has a player test positive the week before a game? That team would likely go into a 10-day lockdown without practices and then need to get back in game-ready shape.
That could mean a three-game window of missed time with a single positive test.
Diaz’s take on that potential scenario?
“We certainly have thought about it - it is far away, and we don’t know where we’ll be at,” Diaz said. “We’ll know by the fall. That’s one thing all the leagues are working out is what will be the uniform (rule). We have all these conferences and everyone has to have a similar plan on what the rules of engagement are every week for competition.
