It’s not just organized sports at the professional, college and high school levels that have gone dark because of the coronavirus pandemic. Giant athletic facilities and small gyms alike are some of the latest entities to shut down.
The St. James Sports, Wellness and Entertainment Complex in Springfield, Virginia, the D.C. area’s largest sports facility, did not open Tuesday and will remain closed through at least March 31.
The St. James originally planned to close for six hours starting Monday at 11 p.m. “to implement (a) more stringent cleaning regimen,” according to a statement. Late Monday night, the decision was made instead to stay closed for two weeks.
This followed executive orders in Maryland and the District that gyms and health clubs, along with other establishments like restaurants, bars and theaters, must close to the public for now to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The St. James was neither crowded nor barren Monday afternoon as some members still visited, partly thanks to schools and some businesses being closed. The 450,000-square-foot complex opened in 2018 and features facilities for every sport imaginable, including an Olympic-size pool, two ice rinks, a basketball court, an indoor turf field, batting cages and golf simulator bays.
In an email to The Washington Times Monday, a spokesperson said the St. James was in “a fluid situation.” Eight hours later, an email went out to all members announcing its closure.
The email, signed by co-founders Kendrick Ashton and Craig Dixon, said that many members had “very strongly encouraged us to remain open,” but promised “a credit” for services and programs that would be canceled due to the closure.
“It goes without saying that this is uncharted territory for all of us and we are committed to facing this unique challenge together,” the email said. “We will continue to monitor developments related to the Coronavirus closely and will share with you any important information that may impact the timing of our reopening.”
Previous attempts to keep the St. James open amid the outbreak of COVID-19 included limiting the number of people per venue to 50, increasing cleaning periods and adding more hand sanitizer stations.
In Maryland, gyms closed their doors at 5 p.m. Monday on the order of Gov. Larry Hogan, one day after he also ordered entertainment venues like casinos, racetracks and simulcast betting facilities also to shut down.
The 24 Hour Fitness chain of gyms had to close its two Maryland locations in Glenarden and Annapolis.
“Our members and our staff, we both wholeheartedly support this decision to kind of remove that from our area right now because of health concerns,” Kyle Sharpless, assistant general manager of the Glenarden location, told The Washington Times.
Before the virus outbreak, Sharpless said the gym’s staff was already doing hourly cleanings of the equipment, machines, locker rooms and other areas of the facility. They stepped up their efforts once coronavirus hit the news cycle, with extra cleanings and walkthroughs.
“With it being a business, yes, we would love to keep our doors open,” Sharpless said. “We’d love to give our members the ability to work out at times when things get kinda tricky. But right now it doesn’t seem like the best time to do so, and we’re just kinda waiting and seeing and kind of aiming for the best.”
As Sharpless spoke, he greeted an older member who was heading for the gym’s central floor to work out. “One more time,” the member said, aware of the impending closure.
Similarly to Maryland, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s order to close the District’s restaurants, bars and movie theaters also included health clubs and spas.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam banned gatherings of more than 100 people in the interest of social distancing, but the state hasn’t specifically ordered gyms or sport clubs to close as of Tuesday morning. While some Virginia sports facilities are voluntarily shutting down, others have adapted and want to keep running.
The Fencing Sports Academy in Fairfax, Virginia, posted a long list of new precautions and rules on the landing page of its website. Executive director Connie Schreiber said that’s just the condensed, “easily-digested version” of the list of changes the academy has made.
For starters, anyone who enters the academy from students and parents to the mail carrier must wash their hands — “period, no exceptions,” Schreiber said.
The academy has limited gatherings to 10 people in a room and encouraged parents to watch their children fence in the building’s lobby or online. At meal breaks, students can’t sit in bunches, only one or two to a table.
And the academy has upped its virtual coaching efforts: Some group classes and private lessons are conducted via live video connection, something Schreiber has adapted for current times after using those methods before the pandemic.
Schreiber estimated that the academy is currently seeing 20% of the clients it usually has.
“I actually anticipate those numbers to go up once people start to get cabin fever,” she said. “Once people realize that being stuck at home means being stuck at home, I think more and more people will avail themselves of having structure to their day and having their kids kept busy in a responsible fashion, to burn off some of the energy that they will definitely have.”
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