The Ohio state hiatus on volunteer training is coming to an end.
After going through another round of COVID-19 tests on Monday in which all athletes who participated in volunteer training were evaluated, the state of Ohio turned on the green light to resume voluntary training for seven sports teams: soccer, men’s basketball and women’s, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball: to resume voluntary training.
In a statement issued by the State of Ohio on Tuesday, Athletic Director Gene Smith said that Ohio State athletes will be routinely evaluated and that medical staff will continue to evaluate training decisions to protect the health and safety of students. .
“Our Buckeyes are excited to start a new school year and were disappointed last week when we had to temporarily suspend training,” said Smith. “These young people come from across the country and the world to be part of our Ohio state family, and we do everything we can to create a safe and healthy environment for them to have the opportunity to study and compete. Our medical team will continue to evaluate and share decisions as we go along. ”
An Ohio state spokesman said the voluntary trainings will resume Wednesday.
The state of Ohio closed the voluntary trainings last Wednesday, after previously reopening the Woody Hayes Sports Center for soccer players on June 8 and other sports facilities for the aforementioned sports teams later in June, due to an unspecified increase in positive cases of COVID-19. Ohio State has not released the results of any of its coronavirus tests, making it unclear how many athletes tested positive last week and whether any athletes tested positive this week.
According to guidelines approved by the NCAA Division I Council last month, the Ohio State soccer team would originally have been allowed to begin required training on Monday. That said, those guidelines were intended for college football teams playing their first games of the season on September 5; Ohio State’s September 5 season scheduled opening against Bowling Green, as well as its September 12 game against Oregon and the September 19 game against Buffalo, was canceled after Big Ten announced last week that their fall sports teams would not play – this year’s conferences.
The Big Ten, which is expected to gather its conference-only hours this week and could still start playing at the conference in early September, also announced last week that “summer sports activities will continue to be voluntary in all sports. who are currently allowed to participate. ” such activities. ”
When asked last week if he thought the Buckeyes could start practicing soccer on July 24, the first day that they are allowed by NCAA guidelines, Smith said it was too early to say.
“You literally have to go day to day, week to week,” Smith said. “So we have to see where things are going next week across the country and locally, and then we have to make a decision on what week we are going to start in relation to the contests.” So there are a couple of variables there, but it’s very difficult for me to speculate at the moment. ”
