These aren't normal times for college sports programs across the country, to be sure. 

But at Loyola University Chicago, a dose of creativity -- combined with unique professional experience -- is making things feel a little more normal for Rambler student-athletes. 
 
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports and all on-campus activities in March. For the Loyola athletic-training and strength-and-conditioning departments, things didn't stop. Instead, staff members and student-athletes put their heads together, found a new gear and came up with ideas to keep everybody in shape and in touch, even from a distance. 
 
Heading these two sports-performance departments are professionals with experience at not only the NCAA Division I level, but also at the highest echelon of pro sports. 
 
Corey Oshikoya is in his fifth season as the assistant athletics director for sports medicine after spending 16 seasons as an assistant athletic trainer with the Denver Broncos. 
 
Dave Vitel is in his second stint at Loyola, today as associate athletics director for sports performance. In between, he worked for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves as strength-and-conditioning coach. He also served an internship with the Chicago Bulls.
 
Both bring a wealth of experience, ideas and credibility to Loyola. 
 
"I thought I brought on board a sense of urgency," Oshikoya said. "You like to get things done and get going. When you know how things are at the professional level and you know how you treat athletes at that level, then I think treating the collegiate kids in the same way with the same amount of respect, as individuals, that you want to make a program that's individualized and you want to make something that can make them excel. That's certainly something I brought from the NFL."
 
Vitel's first stop in Rogers Park was 2001-06. He returned to Loyola in June 2011. 
 
"What I try to do is take those aspects that we use at the professional level and how individualized we got and bring that back to the college level," he said. "Back in the day at the college level, you would just get this blanket program, and everybody would kind of do the same thing. Or softball and volleyball would get the football GA. So, you're not writing very specific sport programs or athlete-specific programs.
 
"I wanted to bring massage therapy in. I wanted to bring sports psychology in. I want to bring more nutrition in. You want to bring more individualized programs into college athletics. That was my goal. That's what I really wanted to bring back, that style of training and make it more of a holistic approach than just lifting weights."
 
The unexpected challenge
 
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of American life in mid-March, winter sports programs stopped. The Loyola men's basketball team finished its season by playing in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, but the women's basketball team didn't get its chance. 
 
Spring seasons got underway, but they, too, came to a screeching halt. That didn't mean student-athletes suddenly stopped needing care. 
 
"Professionally, we started out, and classes ended and everything ended really abruptly, so we needed to take care of the student-athletes and make sure that they were situated," said Oshikoya, who works extensively with the men's basketball team. "If anybody had any current issues going on, we needed to get them into some type of physical therapy, get them on the rehab program. We also know that some kids might have needed to see the doctor or needed some special tests or things of that nature. We tried to get all of that stuff done as soon as we possibly could. 
 
"In addition, part of our task is to take care of the student-athlete as much as we can from a mental standpoint and help and assist them with their transition to online classes and to working out at home and being away from us. I get a kick out of just seeing a student-athlete on daily basis and interacting with them or seeing them in the hallway or asking about class."
 
The Zoom boom
 
Athletes, whether professional players or student-athletes, need to keep moving. How to do that during a shutdown? You gotta get creative. 
 
That's been no problem for the Loyola staff and their charges. In some cases, it's been downright fun. 
 
Fire up Instagram and see Vitel demonstrating an exercise, or check out instructions by sports performance coach Jenee Rago on how to make a medicine ball out of an old basketball and some common household items. 
 
"It's just really developing the program with what they have," Vitel said. "Early on and with compliant rules, we're doing Zoom workouts. We were able to do them somewhat live where the kids could actually see us. Now it's kind of a pre-recording where they can see me but I can't see them. Or I'll send them videos. Every week there are new videos being sent out to the kids with different workouts, different workout ideas."
 
Now that the weather has warmed up, student-athletes can get outside to run, find an open field to kick a ball or swing a bat in the backyard. 
 
"Just different types of resistance, sprinting outside," Vitel said. "A lot of different variations of how to create come resistance training, giving them a variety of speed, conditioning workouts in place, in home, some simple plyometric drills that you can do in place in your basement, in your backyard. Now it's been a little easier because we can get student-athletes outside a little bit more.
 
"As we've understood this process and it's gone along a little bit more, it's a little easier to do conditioning, to do cardio work because you can get outside. Obviously, you still want to follow your good social-distancing rules, but you can get to a park and you can sprint. If you've got a hill nearby, you can get outside.
 
"But yeah, early on it was a challenge to, 'OK, this athlete might have a good weight room, so how can I develop and how can I write a program for that individual? This athlete may just have bands.' So, it's being creative with showing them what to do."
 
In addition to training and maintenance, another focus has been on student-athletes being able to rehab from injuries. 
 
"I think we found some resources that we were able to use that allowed us to be effective in that manner," Oshikoya said. "We found a website that had a rehab focus, and we were able to create some programs and send them to kids. Some of my staff members who cover some other sports are even sending the rehab programs to the international kids who left the country and still need some type of rehab and some care."
 
The student-athletes seem to be responding well to a situation that requires plenty of improvising. 
 
"The kids have been great about it," Oshikoya said. "You've got to understand their world got turned upside down, too. Now they're at home and have to do some things. They don't necessarily have the tools. I know some of the teams have given some of the kids bands and things of that nature. I recently created a video of ankle strengthening tips so some guys who needed some ankle rehab - really, some ankle maintenance. We shot that video using an iPad, edited it and sent it out to the kids. Then we found some resources on the Internet to help us move in the right direction."
 
Right time at the right place
 
If ever there was a situation that looks like the right place at the right time for everybody involved, it's happening in the athletic-training and strength-and-conditioning departments at Loyola. 
 
Facilities have steadily been upgraded over the past decade. And now, Rambler student-athletes have access to treatment from department heads who can combine the best and most sophisticated from the college and professional sports worlds. 
 
For Vitel, a native of Elgin in Chicago's northwest suburbs, his second time at Loyola has him home in more ways than one. 
 
"Being in Chicago has been a blessing, and I love the city," he said. "I love that North Side. I love being right on the lake. When I left to go to the NBA, I wanted to leave it in a good position, and I feel like I did. When I came back, it had the potential to be an even better position. And I was right. When I left, it was just one person doing what I'm doing. Now we have three full-time strength and conditioning coaches who work with our student-athletes. I'm going to be greedy and say we could probably use one more, but it's a wonderful position at a wonderful school.
 
"Like everybody, you just want to be appreciated and you want to know that what you're doing makes a difference. I think they do a really good job at Loyola of giving us the respect the position earns and is worth. I love the mid-major, of working with the caliber of our student-athlete. They're smart. They work hard. Yeah, we don't get the one-and-done's, but it's fun because doing what I do, you get to see your program and your philosophy implemented over time, and you get to see these kids grow and mature and get better."
 
For Oshikoya, the move to Chicago from Denver after 16 seasons in the Mile High City also has him closer to family out East and provided a new perspective. 
 
"I absolutely love it," he said. "I love the kids. It's great sometimes to sit in the training room and just go talk to some of the kids when they're sitting on the treatment table, getting some rehab and interact with them and talk about them and their lives. I like to treat the whole person. I like to find out how classes are going. All of those things factor into their overall health, and it's important that we investigate that and find out who they are.
 
"The administration has been great. They're nothing but supportive. Whatever I need, they're certainly more than willing to help get that. The coaches have also been good. The transition was great. I wanted to go into a leadership position and have some staff members who I kind of help groom. I wanted an opportunity to just expand myself professionally."
 
Lest there be any doubt about what both men said about being at Loyola, one need only look out the window from the workout room on some picturesque Chicago day. 
 
"When you have that view right there on the lake and that beautiful Lake Shore campus and that beautiful Water Tower campus now, it is a really good place to be," Vitel said. 
 
 
Bruce Miles is a 1979 graduate of the Loyola University Chicago College of Arts and Sciences. He worked for the Daily Herald in Arlington, Heights, Illinois, from 1988-2019. He served as the Herald's beat writer covering the Chicago Cubs from 1998-2019.