Embedded Files
Coach Listerman's Mask Shield
COVID-19 stories 3-in-one:
COVID-19 stories 3-in-one:
Donor: Coach Kevin Listerman (mask)
Nancy McEntire (class of '58, ornament)
Authors: Maren Orme & Ethan Lang, Class of 2028
Story Contributors: Coach Kevin Listerman and Ms. Jennifer Nash, Amy Leigh, Class of 1982
Web Page Designer: Jade Farley, Class of 2027
The State Winning Game
With seconds left in the game, the ball passed from Zach Barth to Oliver Harris to Sam Vinson. The bench was on its feet, ready to storm the court…. The coaches were in awe. The team had left their blood, sweat, and tears on the court.
The buzzer sounds…
State champions trophy celebration, 2021.
…The celebration begins. Highlands Bluebirds win the Kentucky State Basketball Title!!!
This 2020/21 basketball season and school year were like none other. Amid the “COVID-19 pandemic,” this victory brought a sense of hope and accomplishment during a time when everyone was feeling isolation and oppression. Let’s look back to gain a broader understanding of these times…
Highlands basketball team, 2021.
Highlands in a Pandemic World
In the preceding spring, March of 2020, the nation (in fact, the entire world) responded to the reported threat of a new virus spreading worldwide. The news channels raised the alarm that this was a worldwide pandemic and that people needed to stay home, with limited freedoms to socialize or conduct business. Governments worldwide required citizens to “shelter in place” while they tried to determine protocols to prevent the spread of the disease. Schools, such as our Fort Thomas schools, conducted classes online, to provide continuing education for our students, that spring. Many districts nationwide completely shut their doors and called school “off” for the rest of the year.
The news channels continually blared cautionary tales of people infecting others by socializing. It seemed the average person felt a sense of despair and even guilt when considering a normal visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s home. Classes were canceled, the Prom was called off, and even Highlands graduation in 2020 was affected.
While many schools completely canceled graduation, our administrators and guidance counselors conducted an all-day ceremony in the 20 North Grand Avenue parking lot. They got a flatbed truck as a makeshift stage with graduates scheduled to walk across the “outdoor flatbed stage” at an assigned time. Parents drove up when scheduled, their graduates hopped out of the car, crossed the stage, got their diplomas, and returned to drive away. It didn’t have the warm community feeling of most graduations. However, it offered the students closure and acknowledgment from their school that they achieved their goal.
Lexi Fitters walks across the flatbed truck to receive her diploma, 2020.
By August of 2020, (5 months later) school systems were varied in their decisions to open their doors. Thankfully, Fort Thomas administrators and teachers performed amazing “mental gymnastics,” creating an unusual, but cleverly conceived environment for our schools to open their doors and welcome students. This all had to be done while also following the strict mandates and rules determined by the CDC (Center for Disease Control, US government). Because of their heroic efforts, our students stayed relatively on target and continued with their goal of learning.
The Highlands gymnasium was repurposed into a satellite cafeteria (since community seating was not permitted). In the gym, each student ate at a singular desk placed 6 feet away from the nearest person. With essentially two cafeterias, all students were able to eat lunch alone without spreading germs to their neighbors.
In every classroom, students were required to sit separate from others with 4-6 feet of space between each desk. Five to ten minutes before each class ended, desks were wiped down with antiseptic wipes, so germs were not left behind for the next group. Students and teachers were required to wear masks in school.
Stairwells were labeled “Up” or “Down” so students could get to class without having to pass anyone else who might breathe on them.
The nurse’s office worked at a feverish pace trying to trace which sick students had come in contact with other students, in an attempt to ebb the spread of illness. Throughout the community, families routinely took nasal swab C-19 tests to check for illness.
Assistant Principal Jennifer Nash was a teacher during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “If we had a lot of students in a class that got sick, custodians would come in and spray everything down, the walls, everything... It was very difficult because everything kept changing...it kinda became a disciplinary issue to keep your mask on and over your nose… the only reason we had those rules was to (follow CDC guidelines) to keep people safe...”
Highlands Boys Basketball Perseveres During the Pandemic
It was in this climate that Coaches Listerman, Blasingame, Orme, Pahren and Perkins, approached the basketball season. Since COVID-19 was an issue before, during, and after the 2020-2021 basketball season. COVID not only affected the game that everyone loves but also everyone and everything around it.
Coach Listerman faced multiple hardships as COVID-19 affected the 2020-2021 basketball season with strict regulations and with other teams cancelling games due to illness.
Coach Listerman & Landry Riesenbeck - state basketball championship, 2021.
This is the point where the featured donated mask emphasizes the spirit of perseverance and the creativity of Coach Listerman. He was confronted with a dilemma, as he was required to wear a mask while coaching. Standard white fabric masks were too much of an interference, preventing his players from hearing him and seeing his mouth. At the suggestion of his wife and a few prototypes, Listerman made his own makeshift “mask”. If that is even what you would call it; it was like a shield/bubble that allowed players to see him talk.
“The mask idea was actually my wife’s. She told me the kids (my players) couldn’t hear me clearly enough, and needed to be able to see my face, at least seeing me mouth the words made the communication better,” Listerman said. “CDC protocols said the mask had to be enclosed because the fear was that the virus could get out around the shield. So, I had to engineer a way to make sure that it was, and that's where the binder clips and the gator came from.”
Coach Listerman wearing mask, 2021.
Playing in a basketball game, you need to be able to hear people,
especially your coach. “The mask drew a lot of attention and laughs from people, but our players got used to it.” The new mask brought an opportunity for the team to hear and see Coach Listerman talking. This was also an “advantage” compared to other teams whose coaches wore traditional masks.
Listerman coached this team to 30 victories that year, they were second in the state averaging over 82 points per game.
Basketball championship, 2021.
“We were 9-4, and we had to go play Louisville, St. Xavier, at Oldham County. We were down a player, one of our starters, Zach Barth (#10), was out that day. We had a great film session before that game. We talked to the kids about where we needed to be better, and it clicked for us. We went down there and ended up beating St. X by I think about 15 or 18 and controlled the whole game. We didn’t lose again the rest of the year.” The Birds finished the season winning their remaining 21 consecutive games.
However, even in the preseason, multiple setbacks slowed the team down. Most of these issues were due to COVID-19 and the problems it presented due to mandated disease control protocols. “Normally practice starts on October 15 and games begin in early December, but that year we started in October and had a 3-week shutdown around Thanksgiving. We weren’t sure if the season was going to happen. Finally, we restarted practice in mid-December and played our first game of the season in January. The state tournament ended in April.”
“COVID created a lot of hardships in that you never knew if you were gonna get to play a game because if the other team had a wave of COVID then the game just got canceled,” Listerman said.
“…The scariest part was if we were gonna play Team A, and they were playing Team C the night before, and Team C had COVID, then Team A wasn’t allowed to play. So just the uncertainty was a big-time challenge.”
2020 memory ornament showcases societal changes during the Covid scare
The KHSAA rules were that each player was permitted to have three family members in attendance. Each family of three had to sit in a cluster while sitting 6 feet away from other family grouping. Even the players and coaches had to sit 6 feet apart. Thus, they had players sit in the bleachers behind the bench, so they could spread out.
Since the gym was also being used as the second cafeteria, every single day, the custodians had to remove 100 desks and chairs from the gym floor and meticulously clean the floor to allow for practices and games. Then, they had to set the cafeteria back up every day before lunchtime.
Coach Listerman hugs Sam Vinson
Despite these challenges, the team had some things going for them once the season started.
“We had our whole team together before we started the season and I think that made a big difference for us.”
Although it looked silly, the mask accomplished the job and Coach
Listerman was able to get his messages across to his players on the court.
“There were quite a few comments about it and a lot of people asked me where it came from and those types of things,” said Listerman on wearing the mask. “I told people that so many coaches at the time, when they were communicating with their players, were constantly coaching with their masks up, and I didn’t want to have to do that.”
Prior to this season, Highlands had been slowly developing their program after a long basketball slump. The wins-losses records show the program was improving each season:
2015/16 7-17
2016/17 12-17
2017-18 13-15
2018/19 20-12
2019/20 28-4
“It was a process; so that season was the result of a lot of work that went in before,” said Listerman about why this team was so good. “The results that we saw in that year really started three and four years before that. And we had the perfect set of players whose skills complemented each other.”
“We beat Ashland in the state semi-finals...” said Listerman, “66-50 was the final on that one... and then in the state championship we beat Elizabethtown…that game was about a 10-point game with about 2:30 left to go in the first half... we made four straight threes and were up 21 at halftime, so the game was essentially over. The final score was Highlands 79- E-town 60.”
Highlands Striving to Thrive in spring of 2020/2021
The basketball victory was the perfect gift to our community during a “Covid World” which offered little to celebrate. It was a testimony to what can be achieved with diligence, hard-work and ingenuity, in the face of adversity. It was a sweet victory for the team and coaches who worked hard day after day; it was a sweet triumph for a community who continued to strive when surrounded by a deflated Covid culture. It even felt like a pivotal turning point in the fight against the pandemic.
HHS basketball championship victory,2021.
Beatty Arnold wearing his tuxedo playing games at the outdoor prom, 2021.
That spring of 2021, after the state basketball victory, Highlands continued to creatively endeavor to provide students with warm high school memories, while functioning within C-19 mandates and protocols. Instead of cancelling prom, again, we held the junior/senior prom activities outdoors on the football field. Students were so glad to be able to have a prom and socialize together. They cleverly adorned themselves with the typical elegant prom dresses and tuxedos, while many wore gym shoes to the field. They played music, played games and enjoyed food at their outdoor prom. It actually was wonderful! It seemed life was slowly returning to a social, healthy state of living, as the scourge of Covid was losing its momentum. Our Highlands community can reflect back with pride... We endured… we showed ourselves we were able to maintain community and work together to thrive, after all!
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