COVID-19 has brought some unique challenges to strength and conditioning programs across the country, specifically to ours at Sac State. We have only trained indoors for a total of 4 weeks since February 2020. I believe our program has handled this strain at an extremely high level. Our six staff members have been able to accommodate every team’s training request, and we have brought baseball back to the on-campus strength and conditioning program for the first time since 2014. We were also the first program in the state of California to be back on campus training since COVID-19 hit last March (conditioning only in groups of 8). Our protocols have been repeatedly shown to limit exposure and we have done an excellent job in having a minimal number of positive tests. This is also a testament to our staff and our athletes having discipline and making sacrifices off the field to keep everyone safe. I believe that COVID-19 has shown more than ever the importance of the strength and conditioning program to our athletes, as well as the adaptability and resiliency of our department.
COVID-19 has still had an adverse effect on our department. We did a $125,000 renovation in January 2020 (in-laid platforms, new bumper plates, some new equipment), but our outdoor training has had an impact on our equipment. Our plates already look like the 10-year old ones that we replaced, our bands and dumbbells have taken a lashing, and our budget took a 10% cut immediately upon returning to campus. Our operating budget line item for equipment is $11,000 per-year, and that is simply not enough to deliver a progressive, elite product to our athletes.
