Reshape and Rally

Photo Collection of Kenyon's Return to Athletics

9/10/2020 11:30:00 AM

Throughout the fall season, Athletics Communications will present a new installment of Reshape and Rally, a photo collection documenting how Kenyon student-athletes and Athletics staff react to everyday changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effort they put in to reaching their goal of returning to intercollegiate competition.

Links to other installments of Reshape and Rally are listed below.

Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4 I Part 5 I Part 6 I Part 7

Sophomores and first-years from the women's soccer team spread out across the practice field and begin drills for the first time since returning to campus.

Under the direction of head coach Jacque DeMarco, the Ladies field hockey team kicks off Phase I of its return with a Saturday morning practice on The Field at Benson Bowl.

Before student-athletes could return to action, they, along with the rest of the on-campus student population, went through the first of three rounds of testing. The testing site was set up on Barrett A. Toan Track inside the Kenyon Athletic Center. Maintaining social distance, each student was accompanied by one person to aid in the move-in process. Many members of the Athletics staff volunteered to help with the testing over the course of all three rounds.

MAC transformed for 2020-21 College opening

In addition to the transformation of Barrett A. Toan Track into a testing station, the Multi-Activity Court (MAC), also located inside the Kenyon Athletic Center, was used by the Division of Student Affairs to welcome students and to distribute information.

Tim VanDoorn, an Assistant Coach for the Kenyon cross country and track and field programs, helps out during testing by sanitizing surfaces and directing students through the testing process.

Assistant Football Coach Tom Lachendro guides a student into one of the many privacy pods used for COVID-19 testing at the Kenyon Athletic Center.

Head Athletic Trainer Mark Teeples puts the finishing touches on a test ready to be mailed, while Assistant Athletic Trainers Libby Cole and Liz Delehanty wait for the next students' tests to be completed.

Back in action, two members of the Ladies field hockey team don masks while opening a practice session with a jog around The Field at Benson Bowl.

As field hockey practice gets more intense, the masks slide down and the Ladies rev up with some plyometric exercises.

At women's soccer practice, Head Coach Kelly Bryan stays masked and distanced while explaining drills to her first-year and sophomore players.

Shortly after the first round of COVID-19 testing, the College went through a quite phase, in which gatherings and group activities were held to a minimum. During that time, Athletics, Student Affairs and other departments across campus offered individual-event activities. One of those activities was the Fitness and Recreation Geocaching Challenge, set up by Emily Heithaus, Coordinator for Lifetime Fitness. Heithaus hid multiple geocaches around the Athletics section of campus and challenged participants to find them using a geocaching app downloaded to their phones. This particular geocache was hanging in a tree, just west of The Field at Benson Bowl.

Back inside the Kenyon Athletic Center, users of the facility learned new guidelines at a revamped front desk. Here, Administrative Assistant Kirstin Fuller helps a student through the procedure, which includes scanning in with the new KACfit app, as well as confirming a positive health assessment before entering.

The new KACfit app not only helps with building capacity and contact tracing, but offers scheduled slots for use in various parts of the building, including the weight and fitness center and the pool. These areas of the facility must be reserved on the KACfit app in order to maintain safe distances between users.

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