I\u2019ll come straight to the point,\u201d Keyes wrote. \u201cI will not put kids on the track and tell them to run any races while wearing masks.\u201d
Keyes was responding to recommendations put out by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association stating, \u201cIt is recommended that athletes wear a face covering during competition in all events.\u201d
\u201cNo, the real reason I won\u2019t do it is because it\u2019s senseless, irrational, cowardice b\u2014\u2014t and I will not help cover that up,\u201d Keyes\u2019 letter stated. \u201cI will not stand up in front of the kids and lie to them and tell them that these masks are doing anything worthwhile out in an open field with wind blowing and the sun shining.\u201d
\u201cFire me if you must,\u201d Keyes said in a follow-up message. On Monday, Keyes was terminated.
Speaking to NBC10 Boston, the now-fired track and field coach explained he\u2019s against masks for runners because they restrict the essential act of breathing.
\u201cMasks restrict breathing, there\u2019s no question about it, especially think about running full-speed. The wind is in your face, it\u2019s shoving the mask back into your nose and mouth.\u201d
A student interviewed by CBS Boston said Keyes was one of his favorite coaches, adding masks are untenable for runners, especially in hot weather.
In a farewell message left at the Pembroke Academy website, Keyes explained mask rules will be violated by some coaches and obeyed by others, creating an un-level playing field amongst athletes.
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I\u2019ll come straight to the point,\u201d Keyes wrote. \u201cI will not put kids on the track and tell them to run any races while wearing masks.\u201d Keyes was responding to recommendations put out by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association stating, \u201cIt is recommended that athletes wear a face covering during competition in all events.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5573,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5572\/revisions\/5573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-lockdown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}