In the end, it wasn’t a difficult decision.
There was a pandemic, and they wanted to play soccer.
And they wanted to keep each other safe, keep their families safe and help Lincoln stay safe.
So 50 boys with cleats on their feet put masks on their faces.
They put on masks when they started meeting up for practice back in July.
And they put on masks when they strapped on their shin guards for their first scrimmages of a much-delayed spring season two weeks ago.
It was uncomfortable at first, said goalie Colin Nehe.
It was weird figuring out how to breathe, said midfielder Joaquin Beckmann.
And it was the right thing to do, said Joaquin’s dad, James Beckmann, who coaches his son’s team.
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“I’ve been so proud of our families and kids,†James Beckmann said last week. “It’s a way to help us be back to normal, all the things people are longing for.â€
The Great Pandemic Mask Debate.
Face coverings. The scrutinized and politicized, derided and debated fabric tool for preventing COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that has swept the globe, sickening millions and killing more than 170,000 in the United States alone.
James Beckmann is an attorney for Boys Town. He helps coach four select soccer teams in Lincoln that play for Sporting Omaha FC.
All of those teams — from the Under 8- to 9-year-olds to the Under-14 team that Colin and Joaquin play for — wear masks on the field.
Coaches wear masks. Parents do, too.
“I didn’t hear one complaint about it,†said Jordan Soliz, whose son Elijah is on James Beckmann’s U-14 team. “I think most of the parents think, if my son’s doing this, we’re doing it.â€
But when he tells other parents about Elijah and his teammates galloping down the field in masks, they all have questions.
Isn’t it annoying? How do you get them to do that?
We need to give kids some credit, the soccer dad says.
“My frustration has been so many people saying the kids can’t do this, the kids can’t do this. Kids all over the world are wearing masks; why do you think kids in this country can’t? The kids are fine.â€
The kids I talked to seemed fine. Colin, the goalie, is an eighth grader at Moore Middle School. He wears his mask all day, even during outdoor P.E., when it’s not required.
“There are people at Moore with asthma or underlying conditions,†he says. “And I’ve been keeping it on so we can have school next year, too.â€
And there’s a bonus. He wears his two-ply neoprene mask on 5-mile training runs. He’s faster, not as winded.
“It’s actually improved my conditioning.â€
Some elite runners train in masks, Bob Rauner said. (Olympian Galen Rupp wore one to stave off his allergies when conditions warranted.)
Some people wear masks to exercise outdoors — or mow their lawns — because of seasonal allergies or air pollution, never mind a potentially deadly virus spread by respiratory droplets.
Rauner is a mask advocate. He’s also a community health physician, a Lincoln Public Schools board member and president of Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln. His extensively annotated and science-based coronavirus updates are manna for the information-hungry.
And for most of us wearing a mask is just fine, unless the day is exceedingly hot and humid.
Overall, outside is a relatively safe space during the pandemic, Rauner says.
He doesn’t wear a mask when he runs or rides his bike. But he does wear one when he can’t avoid time in a crowd, like on a recent trip to Yellowstone with his family.
“Most people want an automatic ‘yes’ or ‘no,’†he says. “It’s not black or white.â€
Sports is the same way. And a sport like soccer — which includes bodies in a scrum fighting for control of the ball, heads together in hastily called huddles — is relatively riskier than a sport like baseball.
“If they’re going to be in close proximity, (a mask) is going to be safer.â€
That’s what James Beckmann thought, too.
The spring season ended two weeks before it was set to start back in March. It was tough on everyone.
The coaches — Beckmann; his dad, Dennis; Ben Damewood; and Brian Coyle — came up with ways to keep the boys connected.
Zoom calls. At-home conditioning — running, mental challenges, technical drills. They kept the boys engaged with each other. Even assigned traditional homework. The boys wrote essays, completed math assignments.
“Looking back, I really appreciate it,†said Soliz, Elijah’s father. “I think they came out of it a really tight group.â€
When sports began to resume in June, they started meeting for physically distanced practices.
And as they approached the season and on-the-field practice, they introduced the masks. Masks weren’t mandated by the club. They weren’t mandated by Lincoln’s mayor or its health department.
“We spent tons of time talking about how to approach it,†James Beckmann said. “We decided the best way to go back to regular practices was to mask up.â€
Team captains put on masks first, and the rest followed suit.
It’s been a month now. The boys take breaks when they need them. Change out masks when they get wet from sweat.
“It’s a non-issue,†James Beckmann said. (Although when the boys started playing again, sporting masks and long, pandemic-influenced hairstyles, more than one parent wondered: Who’s the new player?)
Soccer is serious stuff when you get to the club level. Most years, the Lincoln teams travel, regionally and sometimes nationally.
But the philosophy has always been about more than scoring goals, James Beckmann said.
They talk to the players — this year and every year — about sportsmanship and core values and what it means to be a good person. The idea of the greater good.
Wearing a mask dovetailed perfectly into that mission.
“I want them to be the kind of citizen that Lincoln needs,†James Beckmann said. “That will be role models, not only for kids their age, but for those adults who are arguing about it.â€
Adults who willingly wear shirts and shoes, put on their seat belts and motorcycle helmets, extinguish their cigarettes at the door of a business, maybe even wash their hands after using the bathroom in public. Adults who wouldn’t be physically challenged by wearing a mask while shooting pool or hefting a bowling ball.
Adults who might want to act a little more like a 13-year-old named Joaquin.
“I’m just kind of proud that we’re doing the right thing,†the midfielder said. “And I can keep the people around me safe.â€