The positive cases started dropping in September.
“You’ve got to give credit to everyone on campus, all the students that really took that serious and did what they needed to do and followed the protocol in order to get to the level we’re at now," Green said. “We’re back to in-person classes now, and hopefully we can continue to not get complacent with that now and continue to follow protocols so we can stay here and not have another rise.”
Like the Dayton men’s basketball team, the women’s team returned to workouts when in-person classes began. The NCAA announced in September there will be a transitional period from Sept. 21-Oct. 14 in which teams “may participate in strength and conditioning activities, sport-related meetings and skill instruction for up to 12 hours a week, with an eight-hour limit on skill instruction. Players must have two days off per week during the transition period.”
Green said her team is working on installing it offense and defense and picking up where it left off when summer practices ended.
“We’re trying to take it slowly because we want to get so much in,” Green said, “but for us and for me, it’s making sure our foundation is really good and we’re disciplined in our principles and we’ll continue to progress from there.”
Official practices can begin Oct. 14. At that point, the amount of time the Flyers can work increases to 20 hours per week. The team can hold 42 practices in the six weeks before the official start of the season Nov. 25. Dayton has not announced its non-conference schedule.
With the start date moving back from Nov. 10, Green said Dayton lost a handful of games, including a tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla., and is in the process of putting the schedule back together. The goal is to schedule nine non-conference games.
Dayton also is waiting on word from the Atlantic 10 Conference. She said the A-10 could increase the number of conference games from 16 to 18, which is how many the men’s teams play.
In the meantime, preparation for the season continues. The team holds two practices a week at UD Arena in part to give everyone a change of scenery. It moves back and forth between the practice court at the Cronin Center and the arena.
This is an important time for a young team.
“We have eight new kids: five true freshmen and three kids that did not play last year whether they were transfers or hurt,” Green said. “Over half your team is new, so it’s a big difference from last year to this year. Last year we were a veteran team. They knew what was expected. They knew what we wanted. It’s a challenge for us as coaches because it’s just teaching everything, every day, every second, because we have so many new faces."
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