USD releases Return to Play Protocol

The 15-page document details guidelines for resuming practice and competition in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Eric Boose / Sports Editor

The University of San Diego’s Athletic Department has made its Return to Play Protocol available to the public, posting a link to the document on usdtoreros.com. The protocols include COVID test requirements for both athletes and coaching staff, guidance on the use of face coverings, and guidelines for voluntary workouts, which commenced Aug. 31.

The document outlines protocols that student athletes, as well as coaches and staff (referred to as “inner bubble individuals”), must follow during practices and workouts, and prior to any competition in the future. The guidelines vary slightly based on the risk level of each sport, but all student athletes and inner bubble individuals are required to test negative for COVID-19 in order to access any USD athletic facilities. When athletes, coaches, and staff arrive on campus each day they must pass the daily symptom and temperature screening.

Student athletes are currently allowed to participate in voluntary strength and conditioning workouts, as well as individual skill training, such as free-throw shooting for basketball or individual batting practice for baseball. During this so-called voluntary workout period, USD’s Return to Play protocols dictate that no more than six athletes can take part in a workout or training session at one time. The RTP protocols also mandate that athletes and coaches should stay at least six feet apart for the entirety of the workout or drill, and that everyone involved in a session must wear a mask for the entire time. Coaches in ball sports (like soccer, volleyball, or football) are required to wear gloves. Athletes and staff are all responsible for bringing their own water bottles to workouts and practice, and all activities are overseen by at least one member of USD’s sports medicine team.

USD’s protocols are modeled, at least in part, after the protocols of professional sports leagues and other universities, as Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Athletics Bill McGillis explained.

“We looked at the protocols of Major League Baseball, the NFL, and other entities to really understand best practices and concepts for protocols,” McGillis said in late July. “We have tried to take a lot of that into account as we develop our own (protocols).”

Any student athletes who test positive for COVID-19 must self-isolate for 10 days before returning to athletic activities. Those with symptoms must wait the required 10 days after the onset of symptoms, be fever free for 24 hours before returning, and show improvement in symptoms. For asymptomatic athletes, the 10 days begin with their positive test, and they will only be allowed to end isolation if they do not develop symptoms during that time. 

From there, the policies diverge. Athletes and inner bubble members in “low contact risk” sports — golf, tennis, swimming and diving, and track and field — are not required to undergo any further testing unless they develop symptoms or have “high contact risk.” Those in “medium contact risk sports” — baseball, softball, and cross country — are only required to undergo “surveillance testing” every two weeks during the non-conference pre-season, conference season, and postseason time periods. 

Football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and rowing are the sports listed as “high contact risk,” and are recommended to undergo surveillance testing every two weeks during the current voluntary workout period if “physical distancing, masking, and protective measures are not maintained.” Surveillance testing will occur every week of the pre-season, season, and postseason for high risk sports. 

If and when teams are allowed to play competitive games, USD’s protocols currently require that high-risk sports players and inner bubble members be tested prior to leaving campus for competition and within 72 hours of the first game following their departure from campus. Low- and medium-risk sports are not required to undergo these tests, but they still may.