LBCC Men's and Women's Basketball Teams Are Finding Ways To Keep Things Rolling Even With Covid

The Linn-Benton men’s and women’s basketball teams and coaches have been itching to get back on the court due to Covid limitations.


The Northwest Athletic Conference has created a phased approach that breaks down the amount of practicing, workouts, and competition the players are allowed to do to make sure they are taking proper health precautions. The coaches have also put players in their own pods to eliminate contact with each other. In a normal year or regular season, the teams would have started open gyms by Sept. 28. However, due to Linn County being in the high/extreme risk category for covid, that did not happen.


Since Linn County is in the high/extreme category the teams are restricted in the amount of time they can practice and strength train. The teams cannot practice outside their basketball/weight training class. This means that they are only practicing three hours total a week and only have one and a half hours of weight training a week. As long as Linn County stays in the high/extreme category there will be no “contact” in practices as well.


Joe Schaumburg, men’s head basketball coach at LB, said, “This gives us the opportunity to grow as a team and to keep learning how to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.”


Instead of basketball being a Fall/Winter sport it has become a Spring sport. In a normal season, game play would have started Feb. 13. That has now been changed to March 25, which is the start of non-league games.


LBCC will play three non-league games against Umpqua Community College, Lane Community College, and Southwestern Community College. April 3 is the start of league games, where Linn-Benton will play each team in their league twice back-to-back. For example, they would play Lane on Saturday and then Lane again the next Saturday to limit contact between teams.


Players had to learn to get used to doing workouts and conditioning on their own to stay in shape for the season to come.


With gyms being closed over the break and players having limited access to getting shots up, Fred Harding, a player on LB’s men’s team, said, “It was hard finding ways to get in the gym.”


All players and coaches wear masks during practices and weight training sessions. They also try to social distance as much as possible. During practices and lifting sessions is where the pods come into play to make sure everyone is keeping the proper distance and following guidelines to make sure everyone stays healthy.


“We have two pods of six in the gym and four pods of three in the weight room,” Gibson said


Jerod Gibson, LB’s women's head basketball coach, explained how most of the communication he had with his team was through Zoom.


“It is harder to communicate,” he said.


Gibson said he and his players missed being out on the court.


“It is super challenging, not only for the athletes and their passion for basketball, but for us coaches leading a group through Zoom is hard.”