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Note: This story appeared in the Winter 2021 February edition of CoSIDA 360 Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
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Other Duties as Assigned
CoSIDA members across the country are being asked to head up COVID-19 response teams.
by Danielle Potts – CoSIDA Intern
Life for athletics communications professionals was permanently altered when the COVID-19 pandemic brought college athletics to a halt in March 2020.
Nearly a year removed and with the industry still finding its footing for playing through the pandemic, those same professionals have been tasked with a job they never thought would fall to them: juggling and navigating COVID-19 precautions and safety measures for athletic departments.
Sports information directors across the country have stepped up in the fight against COVID-19, taking on extra jobs to help ensure their campuses remain a safe place for both students and athletes.
Bethany Lutheran College coordinator of sports information KatieJo Svenson is an example of someone whose job description drastically changed.
KatieJo Svenson serves as the COVID Coordinator at Bethany Lutheran.
BLC was one of the many universities that postponed its fall sports seasons until the spring. The school’s President’s Cabinet approached Svenson in mid-August about becoming the campus COVID coordinator. Interestingly enough, Svenson cited her prior experience with Girl Scout camping trips as one of the reasons she felt uniquely prepared for the challenge.
“My family and I had organized a week-long Girl Scout Day Camp for 250 people for 10-plus years,” Svenson said. “So that coupled with my SID experience in hosting home events, conference tournaments and rounds of the NCAA tournament and NCAA Championships would be of great background in this new/additional role.”
One of her duties is to frequently check a campus email address specifically related to COVID issues. Students and faculty can send in pandemic-related questions, such as if they need to quarantine or to report a positive test. The address is also used to communicate to people about next steps when they learn about a positive test, including contact tracing and quarantine issues.
“The good part is people are asking questions and want to do the right thing with my needing to frequently check that account,” Svenson said.
Another task Svenson has managed over the course of the last few months is to oversee and help deliver food to those in isolation or quarantine. At its peak, BLC had 35 people in on-campus quarantine and isolation with 15 more living off campus. At one of the school’s worst points, they were two beds away from being at capacity in their isolation houses. Reaching capacity would have forced the school to go fully online with classes for two weeks.
For Svenson and her staff, that meant delivering more than one hundred meals a day to students in quarantine. With luck, however, the COVID response team was able to add more beds to the isolation houses to increase capacity and devised a better plan for food service for those impacted.
“That was very stressful. I felt like I was sprinting for three weeks straight as new positive tests came in,” Svenson said. “I logged my hours and was working 70-80 hours per week during that three-week stretch.”
Despite the long weeks and hours, Svenson was able to find positives in taking on such an important role on her campus. She felt it was an honor to be called upon by the athletics director and the cabinet for such a committed task.
“The fact that the cabinet thought so highly of me in my first year on campus during the time of their brainstorm really meant a lot,” Svenson said.
Piedmont College assistant director of athletic communications Danielle Percival is another SID who has taken on extra responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. After a promotion, Percival joined the administrative team at Piedmont in the fall of 2019 and soon faced one of the most challenging and unpredictable situations imaginable in dealing with the pandemic that following spring.
Danielle Percival (center) of Piedmont College, with her assistants Joseph Garwood and Troy Weiman.
Being a part of the administrative team gave Percival the opportunity to be in the discussions creating athletic COVID protocols, giving input on scheduling, and expanding her voice within the department. Tasked with creating baseline protocols for the entire campus, Percival admitted it was easy to get frustrated at times but working for the greater good of the campus helped the group remain motivated.
“We met for hours on end weekly to discuss COVID protocols,” Percival said. “There were times it felt like spinning your wheels, but we knew we needed to be proactive rather than idly standing by.”
Piedmont was another college that pushed its fall sports seasons to the spring of 2021, something Percival says has turned out to be a silver lining. The non-conference scheduling now comes through her office, allowing her staff to avoid some of the issues the department had previously faced.
“In the past, we’ve had to be strategic on how to staff events if we have multiple events occurring simultaneously,” Percival said. “Our hope for this now is to more adequately staff the events this spring while adding as little extra stress on our staff as possible.”
This year, many SIDs across the country have stepped up on their campuses in the fight against COVID-19. Our members have gone above and beyond, taking on extra tasks and working long hours, and have had their athletic departments rewarded with safe and successful sports seasons as a result.
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