Boston Stanton plays high school basketball with a relentless energy that often leaves the Denver East senior gasping for air when he finishes a fast break or sprints back in transition.
Lately, it’s been difficult to catch his breath. High school players all across Colorado can relate.
With high school basketball practices underway, and games starting Monday in a season abbreviated due to COVID-19, teams are grappling with a rule change mandating masks worn by all players during games.
Stanton, among the state’s top boys basketball players, is conscious of health concerns that led to the mask requirement. “(They) want everybody to be safe just as much as we want to be able to go out and play,” he said.
But he also joined a chorus of area players and coaches who anticipate significant challenges as a result of mandatory masking during games.
“It stinks, and we’d rather not do it, but we all want to be able to play,” Stanton said. “I’ve cycled through three or four different types. I go back and forth between a couple of different ones that are easier to breathe in. It’s going to be tough getting used to it at first.”
The Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE) required masks for basketball in following guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to a CDPHE spokeswoman. Colorado is one of a handful of states — including North Carolina, Minnesota and Virginia — calling for player masks during games. But there are plenty more — such as Alabama, Missouri and North Dakota — that do not require masks during play.
“Once you get inside (the gym), you’re really sharing that same airspace. Because you’re doing that, the risk is just going to go up,” Dr. Lisa Miller, a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. “Wearing a mask lessens risk.”
The CDPHE recommends either cloth or disposable masks, according to CHSAA’s latest basketball bulletin, that are “composed of multiple layers of fabric or material. A mask might be too thin or porous if you can easily feel your breath in front of you (or can easily blow out a candle) while wearing it, or if you can easily see through it when stretched. Masks with exhalation vents should not be used as infectious droplets can be exhaled. The best mask is one that can be worn comfortably and consistently. Any mask or face-covering that covers the nose and mouth will work.”
Multiple medical studies, published by the American Thoracic Society and the University of Saskatchewan, have found through clinical trials that “negative effects of using cloth or surgical facemasks during physical activity in healthy individuals are negligible” and there is “no discernable detrimental effect on blood or muscle oxygenation.”
But science doesn’t change the uncomfortable reality for Colorado prep basketball players.
“When you wear those blue disposable ones, they get covered in sweat and spit when you’re playing,” said Courtney Hank, a senior forward at Green Mountain High School. “Sometimes, when you breathe in, it comes with you when you inhale. … It’s definitely a mental game being able to push through the discomfort and being out of breath. Also, communication is a huge part that the masks take away from.”
Masking presents challenges equally daunting for coaches as well.
“We’ve been practicing in them,” Denver East boys basketball coach Rudy Carey said. “There is a tendency to let the masks slip down a little bit to gather air. But we’ve got to remind them it’s for their safety as well as everybody else’s safety. It’s new, but it’s necessary.”
Jessika Caldwell, the head girls basketball coach at Valor Christian High School, has worked with players in small group sessions to identify how wearing masks might impact the flow of a game. The restriction of oxygen could lead to shorter playing shifts, Caldwell said, with depth becoming even more essential.
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Darren Pitzner, head girls basketball coach at Green Mountain, added: “We want to push our teams and get our legs and lungs ready, but we also can’t see the body language on kids’ faces. As coaches, that’s what we use to determine whether we can keep pushing or whether we need to back off.”
Players like Stanton won’t allow masks to be used as an excuse for failure this season. Teams must play seven games to qualify for the playoffs, with three games scheduled per week. But one positive COVID-19 test among a team will require the entire team to quarantine for 14 days.
“That’s six games gone out of 14. We can only really slip up once,” Stanton said. “The goal is to not slip up at all. … At the end of the day, it’s for a greater good. We’re all willing to sacrifice something for the end goal of a state championship.”
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