Covid and Coed Skates

[Fullright]

Not sure this is in the right place so Bosses please move this as you see fit.

1) What if anything do you do about Covid in the locker room? I started up again in September of 2021 and obviously the world has changed. Last night a few guys announced - just locker room banter - that they have certain beliefs about vaccines etc. and arent vaxxed. Ok fine, I dont care about anyone's politics or stances on public health and am not interested in a political/public health debate. Do you wear a mask getting dressed, not wear a mask, leave the skate or what? I am vaxxed and boosted but I dont want to transmit anything to my 82 yr old mom for whom I care on the weekends and whose health has had all kinds of issues starting with cancer 12 years ago.

2) The skates from time to time have female players most of which are actually pretty good. The women get dressed with the men. I am reluctant to go full frontal in their presence just out of respect and not wanting to have my junk hanging out. When the females are there, I tend to go into the bathroom area and remove the underwear and put the jock and undergarments on in there. Reverse the process after the skate. My instinct, being an old fart, is that if a woman wants to be in there, she's going to see what she sees and its not my problem but I also dont want to be a perv type a-hole from a long since dead generation. What do you do or what would you suggest?

Thanks

[Chenner29]

36 minutes ago, Fullright said:

Not sure this is in the right place so Bosses please move this as you see fit.

1) What if anything do you do about Covid in the locker room? I started up again in September of 2021 and obviously the world has changed. Last night a few guys announced - just locker room banter - that they have certain beliefs about vaccines etc. and arent vaxxed. Ok fine, I dont care about anyone's politics or stances on public health and am not interested in a political/public health debate. Do you wear a mask getting dressed, not wear a mask, leave the skate or what? I am vaxxed and boosted but I dont want to transmit anything to my 82 yr old mom for whom I care on the weekends and whose health has had all kinds of issues starting with cancer 12 years ago.

My beer league rink has us sign a waiver before we go in.  They don't check vax status but part of me thinks they may get there (I'm double vaxxed and getting my booster this coming week).  Rink protocol is to have masks on transiting from rink lobby to locker room, and masks on when leaving the rink.

37 minutes ago, Fullright said:

2) The skates from time to time have female players most of which are actually pretty good. The women get dressed with the men. I am reluctant to go full frontal in their presence just out of respect and not wanting to have my junk hanging out. When the females are there, I tend to go into the bathroom area and remove the underwear and put the jock and undergarments on in there. Reverse the process after the skate. My instinct, being an old fart, is that if a woman wants to be in there, she's going to see what she sees and its not my problem but I also dont want to be a perv type a-hole from a long since dead generation. What do you do or what would you suggest?

Thanks

I tie a jersey around my waist before I change out of/into my undies

[seagoal]

2 hours ago, Fullright said:

Not sure this is in the right place so Bosses please move this as you see fit.

1) What if anything do you do about Covid in the locker room? I started up again in September of 2021 and obviously the world has changed. Last night a few guys announced - just locker room banter - that they have certain beliefs about vaccines etc. and arent vaxxed. Ok fine, I dont care about anyone's politics or stances on public health and am not interested in a political/public health debate. Do you wear a mask getting dressed, not wear a mask, leave the skate or what? I am vaxxed and boosted but I dont want to transmit anything to my 82 yr old mom for whom I care on the weekends and whose health has had all kinds of issues starting with cancer 12 years ago.

2) The skates from time to time have female players most of which are actually pretty good. The women get dressed with the men. I am reluctant to go full frontal in their presence just out of respect and not wanting to have my junk hanging out. When the females are there, I tend to go into the bathroom area and remove the underwear and put the jock and undergarments on in there. Reverse the process after the skate. My instinct, being an old fart, is that if a woman wants to be in there, she's going to see what she sees and its not my problem but I also dont want to be a perv type a-hole from a long since dead generation. What do you do or what would you suggest?

Thanks

2) I'm in the camp of: in dressing rooms nudity is normal and expected and the presence of women does not change or alter that for me.  I am naked for a short time changing my lower base layer with or without women in the room.  Granted, I don't shower and I'm not someone who will just wander around naked or socialize while naked.  I get in and out of my base layers pretty quick.

But I also don't make a point to prevent a woman from seeing my junk while naked.  I don't personally think or agree that it is perverted or sexual to show, or see, nudity.  I guess I just don't bother to think that much about my own, or other people's, nudity while dressing for hockey.  There is zero sexuality going on in a hockey dressing room and I personally feel that entering one is implied consent to experience nudity.  

That said, the large bath towel trick around the waist seems like best work around for changing lower base layers while standing.

Edited January 30, 2022 by seagoal

[WillyGrips13]

If a woman is dressing in a locker room with men it means she’s ok with the standard temporary nudity that occurs during the change. Meaning, she’s not going to be offended or aghast when you change normally. 
As long as no one is being inappropriate by lingering naked, invading space or leering, it’s fine. By the way, dudes who linger naked, NO ONE wants to see that, not just the women. Like, what are you doing? Get dressed already. 
And honestly guys, don’t flatter yourselves. She’s probably trying NOT to look based on what most beer league bodies look like .
My beer league career has had a lot of coed scenarios and it’s pretty normal to share the locker room with women. Also, think of it this way, if they’re in a separate room, it’s like they’re not part of the team. 

[ilyazhito]

4 hours ago, seagoal said:

2) I'm in the camp of: in dressing rooms nudity is normal and expected and the presence of women does not change or alter that for me.  I am naked for a short time changing my lower base layer with or without women in the room.  Granted, I don't shower and I'm not someone who will just wander around naked or socialize while naked.  I get in and out of my base layers pretty quick.

But I also don't make a point to prevent a woman from seeing my junk while naked.  I don't personally think or agree that it is perverted or sexual to show, or see, nudity.  I guess I just don't bother to think that much about my own, or other people's, nudity while dressing for hockey.  There is zero sexuality going on in a hockey dressing room and I personally feel that entering one is implied consent to experience nudity.  

That said, the large bath towel trick around the waist seems like best work around for changing lower base layers while standing.

The only difference is that I do shower at the rink. I need to because I sweat like crazy, and that makes my skin itch if I don't shower. That said, I either wrap on a towel after I leave the shower, or I put on underwear, socks, and a shirt afterwards. That way, I'm not totally nude in the locker room. 

I wear a mask entering the rink and while changing. Just before I put my goalie mask on, I take off my mask. I've recently gotten masks that attach to my cage, so I use that instead of a regular mask while playing. Before that, I would play without a mask, as regular masks caused me issues with breathing and overheating. My regular mask goes back on ASAP when I take off my goalie gear, off when I go shower, and on when I dress back into street clothes. 

[seagoal]

2 hours ago, ilyazhito said:

The only difference is that I do shower at the rink. I need to because I sweat like crazy, and that makes my skin itch if I don't shower. That said, I either wrap on a towel after I leave the shower, or I put on underwear, socks, and a shirt afterwards. That way, I'm not totally nude in the locker room. 

I wear a mask entering the rink and while changing. Just before I put my goalie mask on, I take off my mask. I've recently gotten masks that attach to my cage, so I use that instead of a regular mask while playing. Before that, I would play without a mask, as regular masks caused me issues with breathing and overheating. My regular mask goes back on ASAP when I take off my goalie gear, off when I go shower, and on when I dress back into street clothes. 

I hear you.

We had a situation recently where we were in an outdoor rink tournament in the middle-of-nowhere Washington.  There is a building with indoor facilities but we were not allowed use of it due to COVID.  So, they built these outdoor tents to serve as dressing rooms. These tournaments are very family friendly so there were wives and husbands and kids and partners and friends all around the rink and tents....

The tents were not enclosed, so the insides where we were sitting was visible to those hanging around watching.  So this was a dilemma for changing: now there are non-hockey players able to see us changing. What do we do?

Well I invented a spontaneous strategy, in light of my belief that changing rooms involve nudity and nudity is not wrong or bad. After coming off the ice, taking off gloves and helmets, cracking beers, etc. I would wait until most of us were down to base layers and I would yell "naked time, 5 second warning."  At that point, I gave no shits to who would see us changing and being naked.  My take is, if you are willing to hang out in front of a dressing....tent....and heed a warning, it's go time. Haha.  It was hilarious to see the folks scatter like a flock of birds who have been spooked, but also, see folks who did not budge.  Haha. 

Good times.  

I guess I just dig my heels in with the idea that nudity is normal in a dressing room and if you are in or near a dressing room, nudity will be present and your presence should not change that normality, regardless of your sex/gender or in the case of the outdoor tents, your playing status. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by seagoal

[SaveByRichter35]

We do nothing about anything.  We don't care about covid.  We're living our normal lives as much as we can.  Women in the locker room pretty much what WillyGrips said.  If she is in the room we still gotta change.  We let her shower first and get herself out of the way after games.  In my other league, there a girl who even showers with the guys on her team.  That I would stay away from, my wife would probably flip if she found out lol.

[ArdeFIN]

5 hours ago, seagoal said:

Well I invented a spontaneous strategy, in light of my belief that changing rooms involve nudity and nudity is not wrong or bad. After coming off the ice, taking off gloves and helmets, cracking beers, etc. I would wait until most of us were down to base layers and I would yell "naked time, 5 second warning."  At that point, I gave no shits to who would see us changing and being naked.  My take is, if you are willing to hang out in front of a dressing....tent....and heed a warning, it's go time. Haha.  It was hilarious to see the folks scatter like a flock of birds who have been spooked, but also, see folks who did not budge.  Haha. 

Good times.  

That would almost go as an experiment in human behavior, different types of person react differently. And some who would react certain way change their behavior due to people next to them reacting.

I've only had few times when women are in our locker room and there hasn't been anything to notice as if there was only the normal masculine group of hockey players. 

More so I've been in a situation that is the whole opposite as I've been backupping our local ladies teams training goalie. I can't see myself in the same locker room with them even if they were ok with me being there. This is the feeling I have and it might be just as natural thing as women visiting our locker room occasionally but I would not be mentally ready for it. 

Luckily we have extra locker rooms for referees etc in the rinks which I can use instead.

Edited January 30, 2022 by ArdeFIN

[Fullright]

Thanks fellas. I agree the locker room is the most non-sexual circumstance ever and there's a consent element if the genders are mixed together with my chasing women days are long gone (being married 30 yrs has that effect). As for the covid, I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. Wear the mask until I get to C/A and put it back on when I remove the C/A after the skate. 

[estogoalie]

1) You can get COVID anywhere. The bus. At work. Supermarket. Etc. Lockerroom is no different. Just respect the rules, and ask that others do as well. If there's a mask rule, ask them to respect that if they don't wear masks. Each team I play with is different. Some have people that are phobic about COVID, so we wear masks and fist-bump instead of shaking hands. Other teams don't care (most teams actually) and so masks come off, people shake hands, etc.

2) In Germany and Switzerland alot of public saunas are mixed. It was kind of strange at first, but just go with the flow. For hockey, they usually have a separate room for females to change, like the referee room or something. But if a female wants to change in the team room, then she's going to have to expect to see junk flying.

[KootenayKeeper]

You must be vaccinated to play at our arena. Masks are required but it is not strictly followed but I do wear a mask in the arena, including in the dressing room. We spread out in a few rooms and there's usually no more than 4 people in our room. 

I wear my tights under my sweats and don't shower at the arena anymore. I am in and out, no socializing pre or post game. I don't drink anymore so I'm not missing anything. 

Women change in their own room, though when I walked into my usual room yesterday, there was a woman changing in there. I had to wait for her to finish because my gear is stored in the dressing room. I'm a fast changer as I tend to show up 15 minutes before ice time.