Illinois Football Players Asked To Sign COVID-19 Pledges Before Starting Voluntary Workouts
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois players have been asked to sign pledge documents before they begin the voluntary summer workouts already taking place on the school’s campus.
According to multiple sources inside the University of Illinois athletics department, Illini Now/Sports Illustrated has learned the reasoning behind the document returning players are being asked to sign is more to get them to put on a signature on a promise to be responsible for their own health and the safety of others in terms of maintaining social distancing and following state-mandated and protocols set by the University of Illinois athletics department.
“We all (athletes/coaches/staff) have to be responsible if we want this to all work,” a University of Illinois athletics department official told Illini Now/Sports Illustrated via text message.
Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith told ESPN's Heather Dinich Sunday that football players at the university and their parents were asked to sign an acknowledgment of risk waiver regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
According to an ESPN.com report the waiver/pledge states "any failure to comply with my Buckeye Pledge above may lead to immediate removal of athletic participation privileges (not my athletics scholarship) and/or the inability to use athletics facilities."
In the above video interview with Illini Now/Sports Illustrated, Buckeyes Now/Sports Illustrated Brendan Gulick clarified that players under the age of 18 were required to have their parents or legal guardians sign what Ohio State is calling “The Buckeye Pledge” that, according to the Toledo Blade, “outlines the risks involved with voluntary workouts, detailing mandatory guidelines athletes must adhere to or perhaps be asked to stop participating on campus. Players, however, would not lose their athletic scholarships.”
Gulick said in the interview that he’d seen a copy of the two-page document and The Blade obtained a copy of the pledge.
“As a member of Buckeye Nation, I know that I must take steps to stay well in order to protect others and promote a safe return to campus for all Buckeyes,” The Blade says is the language in the pledge. “Because of this, I take the pledge to take responsibility for my own health and help stop the spread of COVID-19.”
Smith told ESPN.com the document is intended more for the education of the players and everybody in the athletics department than allowing Ohio State University athletics from being prohibited to be sued for liability if anybody involved in these workouts tests positive for COVID-19..
"That's why we call it a pledge," Gene Smith said to ESPN. "We don't look at that as a legal document. It's a Buckeye pledge. Allow us to help you so that if we face a situation, our trainers, our strength coaches, our coaches or any athletic administrator sees a student-athlete not wearing a mask or not social distancing, we can say, 'Hey, you made a commitment. You signed a pledge. Your parents signed a pledge. Your parents are a part of this.”
Illinois junior defensive tackle Jamal Woods started out his Zoom video conference call with local media on Tuesday by first pointing out that there is very little about these summer workouts conceptually that are voluntary. However, Woods did acknowledge he immediately noticed the difference in the safety protocols of the workouts whether on the practice fields or in the weight room.
“They were saying the workouts were voluntary but when they say voluntary that’s really like mandatory for me,” Woods said. “This whole thing, COVID-19, has changed a lot of things. We can't do a lot of touching. We're limited to a single-digit number of guys in the weight room together. It's just something we are going to have to adapt to."
University of Illinois athletics officials have refused to release numbers or specific names of players that have returned to the Champaign-Urbana campus for these voluntary workouts but the veteran players reported last week, and, according to social media, the freshmen players began to report this week. U of I athletics officials are also refusing, citing medical privacy laws as the formal reason, to report any positive COVID-19 tests.
“It’s definitely a change,” Illinois junior wide receiver Donny Navarro said Tuesday. “(The safety protocols) are definitely something we all have to keep in the back of our minds. We’re not allowed to get in close contact with guys and we’re taking surveys as we come into the building so our training staff be notified that if maybe there are symptoms, then hold on, let’s treat this the right way.”