GONZALES — Superintendent Yvette Irving announced during the Oct. 13 board meeting of Gonzales Unified School District that football and cross country would be allowed to start conditioning exercises.
This decision for the district means athletes in those season one sports can do workouts, such as calisthenics, to get in shape, but they cannot hold practices for their sport.
“I’m very optimistic,” said football coach Art Berlanga. “Even if the first step is just conditioning and following the Covid guidelines, that alone gives me a lot of hope and optimism to eventually return.”
There is no set date for conditioning to begin, but Berlanga said the initial plans are aiming for either before or after the Thanksgiving break. That delay allows the district and coaches to get paperwork completed and organize guidelines.
Berlanga said he has visited North Salinas, Alisal and San Benito high schools to get information on how those campuses have handled returning to conditioning.
“That way I get a clear picture of what to do and what not to do, how the protocols and procedures work with the Covid guidelines as we return to sports,” he said. “I want to make sure I’m prepared as a coach, for my kids and my program. I don’t want to make any errors.”
Diligence preparation is key to restarting any type of student activity, according to Berlanga.
“We have to make sure we go about this cautiously and appropriately,” he said. “If we don’t follow the guidelines or enforce it, it could ruin the season for everybody.”
While the officials get the rules out of the way, students are being cleared for participation with checks on their attendance and grades.
As for when the athletes and coaches are allowed to work together, Berlanga said there will be no sports practice. And, though they will go to campus as they did before the era of Covid-19 shutdowns, no one will use equipment or anything that can be touched.
“No equipment, just calisthenics, body weight, and getting the kids in shape,” Berlanga said.
Planned activities include body weight exercises, push-ups, ab core work, sprinting, lateral movements, cardio-vascular exercises and strength endurance.
“We can’t even use the weight room or barbells or weights or anything the kids can touch,” Berlanga said.
As the school moves toward the tentative November start time, Berlanga said administration, coaches, students and parents are all getting on the same page to make sure everything required of them is in place before they step foot on campus.
