Coaches, athletes getting creative to connect, stay in shape at home

March 25, 2020 / Technology

With a long list of cancellations and suspensions across winter and spring sports due to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus outbreak, and the implementation of social distancing measures, coaches and athletes are being tasked with getting creative in keeping themselves in game-ready form while at home.

In a recent story published in InForum out of Fargo, North Dakota, local high school coaches spoke on how they’re utilizing the downtime to get creative in helping their players work out at home and stay in shape.

“We can’t require them to do anything,” Moorhead Park Christian softball coach Stacey Holm said. “We throw stuff out there. So my captains are taking charge as far as workouts go and it’s just encouraging them. Getting exercise is going to help with our stress level. We can’t see each other face to face, but we’re only a phone call away or an email away.”

» Related: Leveraging technology to become a better coach

For coaches across the country, the social distancing measures have left them to rely more on technology to help communicate with their players. Moorhead track and field coach Megan Endreson noted she’s utilizing Microsoft Teams to help her athletes stay accountable and offer at-home workouts.

“My kids are used to me — if we have a snow day, we’ve had at-home workouts and they’ve had to send me pictures or the time it took them to do it depending on the workout,” Endreson said. “I’ve set up the same thing, if the kids are stuck at home, they need to be active anyway. It’s not good to lose all of your conditioning. I can’t require them to do anything, so I’ve put out optional workouts they can do if they want.”

To read more about how coaches are utilizing technology to get creative with their communication with students, you can read the entire story from InForum by clicking here.