California Baptist University’s athletics teams have been crisscrossing the country for competitions. The safety and wellbeing of the student-athletes, coaches and athletics staff are a top priority.
CBU has instituted safety measures at its own facilities.
“Following guidelines from state and local public health officials, California Baptist University athletics has announced a series of safety protocols that will be in place at the Lancer Aquatics Center,” according to the official website for CBU Athletics. “The 2021 seasons for men’s water polo, women’s water polo and swim/dive will begin without spectators in attendance. Furthermore, the men’s water polo, women’s water polo and swim/dive programs will adhere to NCAA and conference guidelines, policies and procedures, including COVID-19 testing protocols, while also operating in alignment with state and local public health officials.”
CBU has focused on maintaining the safety of all those involved in athletics competitions, while also allowing their student-athletes to compete at the highest level possible.
“I honestly don’t think there has been a difference between traveling during a ‘normal’ year and traveling during COVID,” said Ian Bennett, junior history major and member of the men’s swim and dive team. “The only thing I could have thought of was being conscious of what you’re doing, the COVID testing and wearing your mask.”
As the different sports teams have been traveling, they’ve been focused on staying safe.
“Yeah, (the athletes) are doing all the appropriate safety protocols,” said Brandon Seagondollar, head coach of the CBU STUNT team. “We’re being extremely safe, during every measure possible to keep the athletes safe there, their health is our number one priority. The athletics staff has done a great job organizing all that. And the same with the administration being able to work through these crazy times. But the school has done such a great job of allowing us to be able to travel and putting these protocols in place for safety.”
The CBU Athletics Department has been working with the various sports teams to coordinate testing, temperature checks and other safety measures for athletes at both home and away competitions.
“I think COVID-19 has greatly affected my mindset during competition. With all of the testing, it has affected our training which in turn affects how we compete,” Bennett said.
Despite the setbacks of the COVID-19 restrictions, CBU student-athletes are all traveling safely and training, to compete at the highest level.
