Rick George outlines the re-opening of CU's athletic facilities

BOULDER — Earlier this week, the Pac-12 decided to allow member institutions to open their facilities for voluntary athletic activities beginning June 15.

On Wednesday, Colorado athletic director Rick George wrote a letter to student-athletes and their families that outlined the protocols the Buffs have put in place for their reopening and invited student-athletes to return to Boulder.

“We’re excited to welcome back those student-athletes that choose to come back to Boulder now,” George said in a call with the media on Thursday.

But George didn’t want to push student-athletes to return if they felt it wasn’t the right time.

“That is a decision that the parent and student-athlete needs to make,” George said. “We’re going to be comfortable with their decision whatever it is.”

Pac-12 representatives decided Wednesday to allow strength and conditioning coaches to observe virtual workouts, so student-athletes who stay home will still be able to get some work in.

Student-athletes who return to Boulder will have to quarantine themselves for a period of time before they can use CU’s athletic facilities.

“We have some extensive re-entry processes in place for our student-athletes,” George said. “We’ll perform physicals on all of our student-athletes when they come back. So that is a start and something I am excited about.”

George said that 133 student-athletes are currently in the Boulder area, where many have ridden out the stay-at-home orders for the past two months. Those student-athletes will be tested prior to June 15, and others who arrive in Boulder will be tested as soon as possible.

“Once we know what they and their families decide, we’ll make accommodations,” George said.

Once student-athletes are safe to enter the facilities, they’ll notice some differences from the last time they were on campus.

“We’ll be doing symptom checks and other checks before anyone enters our building, whether it is staff or student-athletes,” George said. “We’ll also be working out in more functional groups. You won’t see big groups working out at this point. We’ll also be having some type of nutrition, whether it is a grab-and-go or part of our Gold Card program. We’re finalizing our plans for that.”

Now that the Pac-12 is within weeks of starting back up, George and his team seem prepared.

“I think we have great protocol and great plans in place for when our student-athletes and staff members step back in our facilities,” George said. “That has to do with workouts and symptom checking every day and sanitizing our facilities in between cohort groups. We’re gearing up for all of that and we’ll be ready — assuming that everything works well with campus and with our local community — for our student-athletes to come back at that time.”

But the Pac-12 doesn’t have complete power to open up athletic facilities. The University of Colorado still has to conform to local, state and federal laws, and there are no exceptions for student-athletes.

“The campus has policies, the state has policies relative to less than 50 percent of the workforce, social distancing, wearing masks if you are walking up and down the halls and if you are having a meeting with somebody,” George said. “So, we are taking all those precautions to make sure that when we cement our work plan to campus we’ll be in compliance with whatever guidelines that they set forth for us.”

Having a detailed plan in place should help the Buffs’ reopen their facilities safely.

“I certainly feel strongly about what we’re doing in our facilities,” George said. “I think our protocols and our processes are excellent. We want to make sure that people that walk in our doors feel comfortable walking in our doors.”

As it stands now, gyms in Boulder are still required to be closed down. That policy could be one of the next to be struck down as the city slowly re-opens.

There’s no guarantee that Boulder will allow student-athletes to train at CU facilities on June 15.

“I still think student-athletes will come back because they can still access our academic center and they can still access our trainers through appointments,” George said. “We’ll adhere to whatever guidelines that are set in front of us.”

The city could feasibly grant an exception to CU’s student-athletes, even if all workout facilities in Boulder aren’t allowed to open. George didn’t bring up this possibility but he did mention that the Buffs’ facilities are not the same as your standard gym.

“The key thing that I want to mention is that there is a difference in what we’re doing from this regard: we can control who comes in our facilities,” George said. “We’ve got strength coaches to make sure that in-between lifts we clean bars, that we social distance. We’ve got three weight rooms right now that we can spread student-athletes out. And, we’ll sanitize between every group lift. We’ll adhere to whatever those guidelines are. We’re ready to go, we’re just waiting for the direction and the guidance that we’ll get from our local and state and campus policies and procedures.”