Rowan College South Jersey-Gloucester Athletics is proud of our alumni who are currently on the front lines helping student-athletes through the COVID-19 pandemic. Today we feature Roadrunner alum Mike Schatzman, the football coach at Washington Township High School and a former standout baseball player at Gloucester County College.
Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Minnick, NJ Advance Media.
Name: Mike Schatzman
Graduation Year: 2011 (Gloucester County College)
Major: Health & Exercise Science
GCC Activities: Baseball, Member of 2010 NJCAA National Championship Team
Bachelor's Degree: Rowan University, 2013, BA Health & Exercise
Current Positions: Football Coach, Physical Education Teacher, Washington Township High School
Navigating Through COVID-19 Pandemic
Question: How are your students and athletes handling the realities of a remote learning environment?
Answer: "So far so good. Obviously the kids are tech savvy, so it's not surprising they learn well in a virtual environment. We just have to make sure they communicate with us on their progress and if they need help with their studies."
Question: Are you using any specific technologies to help assist you in working with the student athletes?
Answer: "Nothing beats working with the students in person, but we've been pretty fortunate. We meet with some of the kids on ZOOM and we text them occasionally to stay in touch.
We our football players we are currently using a weight room software called Rack Performance. We assign the kids a workout every day. We track their progress, their attendance, and their weight room numbers. We have the kids send weekly progress reports every Friday. We hold the kids as accountable as possible. Each kid has an app for this, so it's been pretty smooth."
Question: How have the kids responded to working on their school activities in this virtual environment with their teachers and coaches?
Answer: "The kids have been great! As coaches we did not want to overwhelm them at first, so we let them adjust to their academics before we rolled out our athletic training programs. So far they've responded well, but let's hope the pandemic comes to an end sooner rather than later."