After receiving approval from the Orange County Public Health Department, the Beach’s basketball program is once again back to practicing indoors.
According to Long Beach State athletic director Andy Fee, for the first time since March 12., players and coaches will once again be sharing an indoor facility.
AIM Sports Group, located in Seal Beach just three miles from CSULB, will temporarily be called home by the men’s and women’s programs.
“So we will be practicing at the gym Monday through Friday. We have two time slots, both teams are in there,” Fee said. “The men are practicing in the morning from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. And then the women go from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., so we have a four hour block split between the two teams.”
Fee also said the athletic department recently met with the Long Beach Public Health Department to seek approval for returning to practice indoors at the Walter Pyramid and is still awaiting confirmation.
The previously used outdoor practice facility at the Rhodes Tennis center caused safety issues for the women’s basketball team practicing in the morning due to morning condensation that made the court slippery.
“One of the reasons we made this push to go to the AIM gym is because we don’t want to see someone injured, as crazy as it sounds, the weather conditions out on the tennis courts,” Fee said. “We’ve had a good discussion with the city and hopefully we can get to a good compromise of activity in the pyramid.”
According to Fee, getting media personnel back on the court “remains the second piece of the puzzle.”
“Initially it will just be the teams, so it will have to be Zoom interviews or things of that nature. But if we can adjust it , we certainly certainly will,” Fee said. “We continue to have negative tests which is a good thing , so we continue, knock on wood, have stayed healthy.”