Indiana Announces Plan to Bring Athletes Back to Campus

The first wave of athletes — starting with a group of football players — can return to the Indiana campus on June 15 for voluntary workouts, but all players must going through testing first.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — With safety plans in place, Indiana is prepared to start welcoming its student-athletes back to campus, starting with a partial group of football players who can begin voluntary workouts on Monday, June 15.

Players can return for voluntary workouts in phases, with 68 football players coming in the first phase. Others will come two weeks later, with the final group coming two weeks after that.

Other sports will soon follow, including men's and women's basketball players on June 18, women's soccer players on July 6, volleyball on July 8, men's soccer on July 13, field hockey on July 15 and cross country on Aug. 18

“We cannot totally eliminate the risk,” Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass said. “At least until there is a vaccine, there will be risk. What we can do is have the best doctors give us the best protocols and make sure they are strictly followed. That’s what we’ve done and what we are going to do.”

The first phase will be closely monitored, and adjustments will be made accordingly as needed. The plan will be updated as the Department looks toward team practices later in the summer and ultimately, determinations will be made about games and  competitions as plans are developed to meet, and in some areas exceed, all federal, state, local, Indiana University, Big Ten Conference, and NCAA guidance relating to COVID-19.

The process to getting all this started will actually begin a week earlier, Indiana coach Tom Allen said.

"The 8th of June will be a travel day for our players. There's a process we have to go through and we'll kind of take you through all that right now,'' Allen said. "For the first phase that's coming, once they get here and travel on the 8th then on the 9th, they will be tested in two different groups on that day. Half the group will be tested on Tuesday. Half the group will be tested on Wednesday. 

"We will be able to have them divided up and tested for COVID-19 and our staff will actually be tested on the 8th as well. All those in contact with them, they'll be tested. It'll be a two- to three-day period where they're going to be quarantined after they are tested before we find out the results and those results will be notified and we'll go ahead and move forward from there.''

Allen said once players — and coaches and staff — are cleared, then they'll be orientated "into all of the policies and procedures that we have in place to help them be successful in the weight room and during their running on the athletic fields.''

The students’ returns will be staggered and include a reintegration phase before each student is able to participate in voluntary workouts at Indiana University athletic facilities. All athletes will be tested prior to beginning workouts and need to be cleared to participate. Daily temperature checks will be given as well.

To promote the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff participating in team activities (collectively “Participants”), IU Athletics established the IU Athletics Medical Advisory Group on March 10, 2020 to provide expert medical advice to the Department. 

This group consists of Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Andy Hipskind; IU Team Physician, Dr. Larry Rink; and Dr. Tom Hrismalos, a specialist in infectious disease. Dr. Rink also serves on the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases. The IU Athletics Medical Advisory Group worked in collaboration with IU Environmental Health and Safety and IU Emergency Management to develop the following requirements for IU Athletics to implement for the resumption of limited athletic activities in certain facilities for Indiana University students who participate in intercollegiate athletics.

 IU Athletics recognizes that the protocols we are putting in place transcend the health and safety of the IU Athletics community, as we also seek to promote the health and safety of the general IU student body, the entire IU community, and the city of Bloomington.

Once an individual is reintegrated, they will be required to adhere to a series of guidelines moving forward. These requirements include daily medical checks, abiding by CDC guidelines regarding social distancing, and, when deemed necessary by IU Athletics’ Chief Medical Officer, COVID-19 testing.

In accordance with the NCAA guidelines, all workouts will be strictly voluntary and IU Athletics will emphasize the voluntary nature of the workouts to its students. The voluntary workouts will be conducted in accordance with detailed safety protocols governing the workouts themselves as well as the pre- and post-workout procedures. 

These safety protocols include elements being used by other Big Ten institutions as well as the NFL, NBA and U.S. Olympic Committee. These protocols include a daily medical check for students; social distancing and facemask guidelines for students and staff; guidance on group size and composition; facility capacity limitations; directives regarding equipment usage and cleaning; and directives on facility cleaning.