Why Goodpasture and Sumner County teams played in Alabama despite coronavirus concerns

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Goodpasture baseball coach Jim Carter had no reservations with his team competing earlier this week in a tournament in Alabama despite rising coronavirus concerns.

The Cougars' baseball and softball teams competed through Tuesday in tournaments in the Gulf Shores area with the private school administration's full support.

"I trust people that are in position to make these decisions and they said, 'You guys go play and have a great trip,'" Carter said.

Carter said Goodpasture principal Lynn Dearing was in Alabama with the two teams.

Goodpasture was likely the last Tennessee high school competing in spring sports before Friday, when Gov. Bill Lee has urged all schools to be closed. The TSSAA has confirmed Lee's recommendation includes all athletic events, which include games, practices, conditioning and workouts.

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In Alabama, that shutdown started Wednesday.

Goodpasture was one of 16 teams in what was originally a tournament of 40. But other schools dropped out.

The Cougars played four baseball games in two days, and their opponents included two Tennessee schools — Hendersonville from Sumner County and Heritage of Blount County.

"There is no playbook on this," Carter said. "You are just doing the best we can with the situation that we are unfamiliar with. We just continued to tell our guys, 'We're coming down here.'

"When we got down there we knew we could play only Monday and Tuesday. But even then we knew we might only be able to play only Monday. Literally they could have stopped us Monday. It felt different than any spring break trip we've ever been on."

Sumner County schools shut down sports on Monday but allowed teams out of state competing to complete play on Tuesday.

"Everything keeps changing so fast," Hendersonville principal Bob Cotter said. "(The county) had decided they were going to allow them to play during spring break.

"They had so much invested money wise and time wise in it. And we weren't on a quarantine at that time that it's become. On Monday, we were told we were done and that baseball teams had one more day to finish on Tuesday. Then they would be shut down and come on home."

Carter said Goodpasture did take precautions. One team chose not to shake hands. Other games the team bumped elbows with the opponent.

There was hand sanitizer stationed at different locations in the home where the team stayed. Longtime athletic trainer Chris Snoddy gave them instructions on how much hand sanitizer they should use. Each night every coach and player had their temperature taken. If anyone had a temperature, parents were told they would not be able to stay with the team.

Parents were also on the trip staying at different locations. Carter said no one had a temperature.

"(Snoddy) did a good job educating our kids on what (the virus) was and how they needed to manage themselves," Carter said. "He had hand sanitizer out and made sure we weren't using too much. He regulated that.

"And it might sound funny, but we were regulating toilet paper. And we were labeling our cups so we weren't drinking after each other. A lot of it was stuff you are already doing. The difference this time was Chris really educated our guys on it."

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.