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ENMU coaches eye return to practice

PORTALES — Pro sports are rearing their head, with Major League Soccer back last week, Major League Baseball due back next week, National Football League training camps and the National Basketball Association starting the week after.

College sports are due to return soon as well, though some Division I and II conferences have already canceled or amended their seasons. Eastern New Mexico University athletes are still preparing to come back with voluntary workouts on tap.

How many athletes are involved remains to be seen.

“I think we’ll probably have five or six; that’s what we’re expecting roughly,” Eastern men’s soccer head coach Jon Fridal said. “We won’t have a big number; a lot of our guys are pretty scattered all over the country.”

“I think we have about 10-12,” first-year ENMU women’s head soccer coach Abbey Barnum said. “There are a few factors that go in as of now. I think that’s the maximum we’re expecting because they have to get COVID testing.”

Cross country won’t be active in the voluntary workouts, at least not officially.

“I really won’t have too much involvement in that,” ENMU cross country head coach Jeff Kavalunas said.

“Most of our cross country kids, we give them their training, their workouts they have throughout the summer. So we typically haven’t gotten together in that (official) mode that most other sports do. If there are any kids here in town who want to get together for runs, they typically do that once a week. For us not much changes until they report for regular practices in August. …

“They’re all pretty much getting their longer runs in on their own. Sometimes as we get closer (to the season) the kids will call me up and say they want to get some of their runs in together.”

Attempts to contact football coach Kelley Lee and volleyball coach Sia Poyer were unsuccessful this week.

For coaches, like every other aspect of life during the pandemic, this is uncharted territory.

“Normally we’re not allowed to do this; this is something new that the NCAA allows,” Fridal said of the workouts. “We still have a few things that we have to iron out. These kids, when they get back they have to quarantine for 14 days, so we have to tackle that. And once we get going with activities, we’ll start with small groups and social distance and start progressing with greater numbers. We’ve laid out protocols that our department has put together and I think it’ll allow for athletes to return and get ready for the season.

“We’ve just got to be as responsible as we can and make sure we’re following the protocols and the guidelines set by the government and the athletic department, and hope our opponents are doing the same, and we’ll be alright.”

For Barnum, it’s been a zany few months. She was announced as Eastern’s new women’s soccer coach about a week before everything shut down in March.

“It’s been interesting,” she said. “When I moved to Portales the girls were already on spring break, so everything’s been virtual. I met a few of them in person and I’ve known a few of them from previous coaching. …

“(COVID) has been something that all of us have to adapt to. There isn’t a handbook to deal with it. You just kind of roll with it and figure it out as you go.”

 
 
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