This month schools will begin preparing for the 2020 fall sports season, and with the challenges of protecting the well-being of student-athletes, as well as the respective coaching staffs, the Whitehall sports medicine staff will play a vital role in helping to navigate the new competitive landscape during a pandemic.

Whitehall put together a set of guidelines that can be found on their Zephyr Athletics website. Falling under the heading of the Athletic Department’s Resocialization of Sports Recommendations, the school has outlined its policies and procedures. The resocialization rolls out in phases, establishing a protocol for a safe environment as the student-athletes return to the playing fields.

Charged with implementing those guidelines will be Chris Ohocinski, Supervisor of Sports Medicine at Whitehall. Ohocinski and his staff will be tasked with making sure everyone in their respective sports programs are on the same page, adapting and modifying as circumstances dictate.

Ohocinski has been the Supervisor of Sports Medicine at Whitehall for two years. Additionally, he also serves as the secretary for the school district’s safety committee, holding that post for the last two years as well. He works alongside “two dedicated” athletic trainers, Jessica Klitsch and Morgan Guarino, both of whom are affiliated with St. Luke’s Heath Network. Ohocinski said that they “have been essential in returning our students back to athletes.”

Ohocinski recently responded to some email questions:

First, in your role as Supervisor of Sports Medicine, what is going to be your biggest challenge?

“The biggest challenge is adhering to and quickly adjusting to the rapidly changing information revolving around the COVID-19 pandemic. It is vital to the safety of our student athletes to stay current with the latest information and instruction released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Center for Disease Control.”

I read the school’s Resocialization of Sports Recommendations posted to the website, and it seems hard to square the proposed guidelines with a contact sport like football. How is this going to be handled?

“The Resocialization of Sports Recommendations were not specifically designed for each individual sport, but as a guide for our entire athletics program to follow. These recommendations were put in place for our student athletes to safely begin to train and re-acclimate with their sports teams, not necessarily for a particular sport. Our football team, for example, does not “practice” like they have in the past before COVID-19. We have focused our attention on different aspects of the game, like team building, weight training, conditioning, flexibility and position specific education. These adjustments were made to remain as socially distant as possible.”

What is a typical work day like working with the student-athletes under the new guidelines?

“The typical day at Whitehall under the new guidelines resembles very much what it used to with some added safety precautions. Our student athletes and coaches arrive every morning excited, energized, and grateful for the opportunity to participate in the sports they love. Adapting to these new guidelines along with the uncertainty of how the pandemic will affect this year’s season, has only made our sports community stronger. This camaraderie shows itself in every sport on campus because we are all competing against a common opponent. That opponent currently is COVID-19, and we are all trying our best to win.”

Are you networking with your peers in the EPC to bounce ideas off one another?

“Networking is of extreme importance to our profession and that’s not anything new because of COVID-19. Collaborating with local schools and St. Luke’s Health University has always been the norm. It is expected that our day to day operations are current and backed by the latest information.”

Golf and tennis are already underway at Whitehall with the rest of the sports getting set to stagger their starts over the next few weeks.