BLOG: College Athletics During A Pandemic

There were a few firsts this weekend. For the first time in seven months I witnessed a live sporting event in person with Boston College volleyball opening its abbreviated fall schedule with a pair of matches against Louisville, Friday and Saturday. 

From a safety standpoint, it was terrific. Boston College did a great job with keeping everyone safe. Before you were allowed to enter Conte Forum your temperature was taken through a thermal camera before filling out a pre-screen questionnaire saying you don't have symptoms and have not been exposed to anyone who has it. Once I was cleared I was given a blue (green on Saturday) bracelet to put on then I was allowed to enter the building. 

Inside Power Gym, the scorer's table was reserved for the two scorers, clock operator, P.A. and replay official. Across the court in the stands were broadcasters, the great tandem of Bill Spaulding and Eric Gallanty. About 15 feet away from Bill and Eric, was where myself, Tyler, and Brendan camped out to stat the game. We were all appropriately spaced out and wore masks the entire duration we were inside the facility. 

On the court, there weren't major changes. All players, whether playing or not, wore masks even while playing, while all coaches and athletic trainers kept their masks on. Typically in volleyball the two teams exchange sides in between each set, but that was eliminated. (This will play a key role in the second new first from this weekend, but that will be explained later). There were no pre- or post-game handshakes by the teams or coaches, but other than these small changes it was just a regular college volleyball match. I'm very thankful to Boston College and the Boston College Athletic Department for providing student-athletes with a safe environment to compete as well as a safe place for staff to work. 

The second first was, it was my first time using the new statistics software NCAA Livestats. I had the privilege to see NCAA Livestats for volleyball and soccer in action at ECAC-SIDA last June, but I never actually used it during a real match - until this past weekend - and I don't think I ever want to go back to the old software. 

It is an easy software to use and quick to pick up. One of the knocks of NCAA Livestats predecessor was it is not intuitive, but the new software is just that. After clicking on the number of the player who is serving, the software remembers that for as long as her retains the serve. No longer is it necessary to enter every sub each time, but only the first time they enter in that set. When entering starters now you can enter both liberos (prior you could only enter one since that software was written BEFORE volleyball changed rules of allowing two liberos). 

However, learning a new software did not come without its challenges. The first one we encountered was because it is so intuitive, it switches sides between sets, but since we are in COVID times the teams weren't switching sides between sets so it made it a little difficult. But we figured out we could flip the sides manually back easily so it became less confusing. The second thing we found difficult was learning to a new way to push to our livestats provider (SideArm and StatBroadcaster). 

We're still learning and getting acclimated, but NCAA Livestats gets two big thumbs up from me.