Homburg Centre Reopening Signals a Return to Slightly New ‘Normal’
Written Drew McConnell
Photo by Saint Mary’s University
As the calendar flips, the days get shorter, and the temperature dips, we find ourselves entering a fall season devoid of university athletics. The Dauphinee Centre, home of the Saint Mary’s men’s and women’s hockey teams, would ordinarily be bustling with hundreds of maroon and white-wearing fans, cheering on their Huskies. The basketball court inside the Homburg Centre would be filled, Huskies Stadium would be… you get the picture.
But alas, here we are, mid-way through October and not a sport to be seen. However, despite the lack of competition on the ice, hardwood, or grid-iron (or playing surface of your choice), there is at least some good news. The Homburg Centre, SMU’s on-campus fitness and wellness centre, recently reopened after being closed for nearly six months. It was a long time coming, according to SMU’s Director of Athletics and Recreation Scott Gray.
“We’ve been working on this [for] a couple of months,” Gray said during a telephone interview. “Actually I wanted to get it ready for early September… but it took us until [September 21] for us to get all of the health parameters and basically make sure we’ve got our screening and our contact-tracing information clear,” he added.
The Homburg Centre was shut down in March, shortly after the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) announced a potential exposure to COVID-19 at the facility. This has led to Gray and the entire department at SMU taking a hyper-vigilant approach to ensuring best practices are followed and everyone remains as safe as possible.
“We have a responsibility to support our students in a number of different ways,” Gray said. “but it can’t be the same as before COVID, so we have to be cognizant of educating people on COVID, some of the safety requirements, and how we move forward,”.
Indeed, moving forward is top-of-mind for everyone, student athletes included. The latest step forward has included the athletes being able to resume various conditioning exercises and practice sessions, even if individual seasons are still in limbo.
“We have entered a scaled-down version of our varsity student-athlete… they have some strength and conditioning sessions each week per team, plus they have some practice times,” Gray said. On how scaled down the return to training has been, he added “right now we’re dealing with cohorts, or groups of ten due to health regulations… but as that [limit] increases to 50, we’re hoping to scale up a bit more.”
How quickly things can evolve is really dependent upon how we, as a society, do at limiting the spread of the virus. Thus far, Atlantic Canada has fared significantly better than other jurisdictions in Canada, which is in part due to the travel restrictions imposed on people living outside of the region – aka the “Atlantic Bubble.” As well as the “bubble” has worked, it does pose some challenges for student-athletes from other provinces. “Just in varsity athletics alone, we had probably over 100 student-athletes do self-isolation or quarantine for 14 days,” Gray said. He points out, however, that having to go through such an event should help students grasp the gravity of the pandemic. “They got through it… hopefully that experience will help them understand the importance of following protocol and following public safety guidelines.”
There’s no denying that this pandemic has been hard for everyone, and student-athletes are no exception. They’ve been denied the opportunity to compete in the sports that they love, and in some cases as mentioned, forced to self-isolate by themselves for two weeks. Moreover, they’ve also been deprived of the camaraderie of their teammates for the most part, as gathering limitations have been enforced.
“We’ve taken away a big part of their lives, a big part of their norm,” Gray said. “That’s why bringing back activities slowly [and] safely is good for them,” he added.
There’s no telling how long before athletes can compete and play the games for real. That’s why it is so important for them to be able to get back into the rhythm of training and conditioning, not only to stay physically active and healthy, but it also serves as a much-needed respite from the virtual classroom and the persistent pandemic reminders.
And as the university, in accordance with NSHA guidelines, begins to expand training capacities and allow larger cohorts, a level of normalcy is sure to creep back into their lives. New routines will develop, and a sense of comfort will return as the light at the end of the tunnel seems more attainable.
“Any time they can get a little glimpse of freedom, so to speak, or they can go out on the field and kick a soccer ball around, they’re cherishing those moments – maybe even a little bit more than before,” Gray said. In these times of uncertainty, even being able to take part in a scaled-down version of “normal” has to be akin to a deep breath of fresh autumn air. It’s definitely something to cherish.