Mary Thompson, manager of girls' elite youth basketball for Nike, regards one advisory about avoiding the swine flu virus by maintaining a distance from others of 3 to 6 feet as pretty implausible in her world.
"We're talking about kids breathing on each other, touching each other, touching their faces then touching basketballs, sitting by each other, sweating on each other," Thompson said. "You know girls. They'll put their fingers in each other's mouths. They'll do anything."
As Curtis Ekmark, a high school and club coach in Phoenix, asks, "What am I supposed to do, tell my players not to touch anyone?"
Such is the state of one of this country's most extremely close-quartered endeavors -- girls' basketball -- in the midst of the swine flu outbreak. The questions seem even more widespread than the influenza virus that has circulated worldwide, occasionally with deadly consequences. The World Heath Organization has raised its pandemic threat level to five on a six-step scale.
Nationally, the state of New York has been hardest hit, followed by Texas and California.
Brooklyn (N.Y.) Saints coach Joe Murphy, whose club team is hosting the New York Metropolitan D1 district championship this weekend, cancelled Wednesday's practice after news broke of confirmed H1N1 diagnoses in the area. He conducted an optional practice on Thursday night.
Much of the concern in girls' basketball has focused upon Mexico, where the current strain of swine flu is believed to have originated, and the states bordering it.
One of the biggest events in girls' basketball this summer, the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship which is scheduled for Mexico City, June 10-14, likely will be affected. The venue has not yet been changed, but well-placed sources told ESPN HoopGurlz that a move out of Mexico City is expected to be announced on Monday. USA Basketball still plans to conduct trials for its U16 team in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 28-31.
Two men's U16 events have either been canceled or moved out of Mexico, FIBA Americas secretary general Alberto Garcia said in a statement. The FIBA Americas qualifier for men has been offered to the seven other countries participating in the event; a similar move is expected for the women, sources said.
"The problems related to the swine flu are very difficult and involve everyone, especially the people and the Mexican government and our institution hopes that everything can be resolved as soon as possible," Garcia said in the statement issued by FIBA.
Plans for the U18 trials and FIBA Americas qualifier are thus far unchanged because the tournament is scheduled for August.
"We're always concerned anytime our teams travel and follow USOC and State Department guidelines for safe travel, both in terms of safety and health," said Carol Callan, women's national team director for USA Basketball. "When we do travel, FIBA or FIBA Americas stays on top of those concerns and how they might impact our teams or the events they might be participating in. We have teams going to both Thailand as well as Mexico this summer, so we're closely monitoring those situations so we can make appropriate decisions if it becomes necessary."
Teen athletes are less at risk than the elderly and younger children, but have about the same risk as the general population, according to Dr. Ben Wedro, an emergency physician who practices out of a trauma center in La Crosse, Wis. He has also consulted on site at multiple Olympics, the FIFA World Cup and the Pan Am Games. People generally want to limit proximity in close spaces, he added, but increased risk of infection in multi-gym facilities commonly in use for club basketball tournaments in the spring and summer "depends on the ventilation of the gymnasium."
"They're not more at risk than they would be going to the movies or the mall," Dr. Wedro added of teen athletes. "[The risk is not heightened] on the basketball court, unless someone contagious is guarding you really closely for the entire game."
Avoiding close proximity in confined areas is the very rationale the University Interscholastic League (UIL) used to suspend athletic and academic competitions in the state of Texas until May 11, said UIL spokesperson Kim Rogers. May 11 is the tentative restart date because many of the school-district shutdowns, including large districts outside of San Antonio and Dallas, are scheduled to end then, Rogers added. The state of Alabama followed suit on Thursday, postponing all statewide athletic competitions.
Tight quarters are very common in gymnasiums.San Antonio Heat coach Koby Cantu has given his team a week off from practice and competition after a tournament in which it was scheduled to compete in Corpus Cristi, Texas, this weekend was canceled "for precautionary measures." Marques Jackson, director of DFW Elite, said his program's tournament in DeSoto, Texas, this weekend is on "yellow light" status after seven teams, including five from one program in Oklahoma, withdrew for health-related reasons. Down South, the Cy-Fair Shock still plan to compete in a tournament in Houston, according to Al Coleman, the program director, but parents of players in the program have been told it would be understood if they were uncomfortable with their children playing.
"I'm really contemplating not playing this weekend," Coleman said.
Nike's Regional Skills Academy, scheduled for Dallas on May 30-31, is one of the first major events that could be impacted by the swine flu outbreak, especially if the suspension of competition is extended in Texas. If necessary, Thompson said Nike likely would cancel the event, instead of moving it, because the biggest concern is players bringing the virus to the event and infecting others. She said Nike's major summer events, the National Skills Academy (June 30-July 3) and Nike Nationals (July 28-31) so far are unaffected.
"It's a huge concern," Thompson said of the flu outbreak. "But there's also no reason to freak out. The swine flu will continue to be on our radar, but there's no reason to make a decision on those events right now."
The situation appears far less severe in other areas close to the Mexican border. Three out-of-area teams have dropped out of a big club tournament in the San Diego area, but Marlon Wells said his three ECO teams will play and none have changed their practice schedules. Ekmark also has not altered the schedule of his Phoenix-based team, but said he will reinforce his message about hygiene and not sharing water bottles, delivered during a recent scare over staph infections.
Marc Riley likewise said his teams in the New York Elite program will start carrying sanitary wipes to practices and games, but otherwise New York teams did not have to change workout or competition schedules, in spite of the heightened number of confirmed swine flu cases in the area.
"We can't stop doing what we're doing," Riley said, "but we can step our game up in taking the proper precautions."
Precautions such as covering sneezes and coughs, washing hands and staying at home when sick should be effective measures against the swine flu virus, which Dr. Wedro notes "is a droplet infection -- the droplets can last on surfaces for up to two hours. If someone infectious sneezes all over the bathroom, you could catch it." He added that most confirmed cases of the flu involved people with "first-degree" relationships with someone who has been to Mexico.
"If you don't have a documented, confirmed case of swine flu in your area, your risk is nearly nothing," Dr. Wedro said.
