NEW YORK (AP) – Coach Dawn Staley would be preparing the US women’s basketball team for the Tokyo Olympics this week if it weren’t for the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, she will hold a Zoom conference call on Wednesday with players competing for a spot in the squad in 2021, if the postponed Olympics are held next year.
“Although we have things we deal with in our personal lives and in basketball, let’s get together to talk about some things, say hello to each other and receive a virtual hug,” said Staley, three-time Olympic gold medal winner in basketball. “In fact, it would be the Opening Ceremony in a few weeks.”
Staley says he is in “constant communication” with US basketball officials.
“We are playing by ear like the rest of the country, the rest of the world,” she said.
Currently, Staley is focused on bringing her South Carolina women’s team back to campus in a safe environment. His team finished first in the latest Associated Press poll and won the SEC tournament before the NCAA tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus. Some players will return in mid-July, but will not enter the basketball court until August, she said.
They will follow CDC guidelines using masks, social detachment, washing their hands and taking the test. Staley is aware that frequent tests can result in positive tests.
“If the numbers are trending in the wrong direction, then we have to rotate,” she said. “Just trying to keep our athletes in a safe space.”
If a player’s test is positive, he will be quarantined and those around him will be tested and quarantined. “The cluster will have to quarantine, not necessarily the entire team,” said Staley.
This summer, his players have been discussing ways to support social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“They are talking about this. I want it to be their voice and not my voice, ”said Staley, a recipient of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. “I just want to support you. (There are) causes that matter to me a lot and those that reach my heart, that move me to do something. I’m letting them tell me what they want and getting those people who can help them plan, grow and learn. “
Staley, 50, hopes to launch his own hiring “action plan” this week. The goal is “numbers tending in the right direction when it comes to hiring blacks and people of color”.
She hopes that the plan, with deadlines, will provide opportunities in communities and be “a model that other universities and colleges can use to increase their number”.
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