Serious question: What do you think the Pac 12 reasons (and those of the Big 10, assuming they will be doing the same thing) are for playing Fall football but deferring playing any women’s Fall sports?
I suspect it has to do with the logistics of scheduling all Fall sports in such a short time frame. After all, it's Fall now. And of course Football / Basketball are the money makers.
That is great that she gets another chance to compete and the coach must highly rate her. It’s a big topic of conversation among coaches right now as some need to make a decision between bringing seniors back or bringing in their 2021 class. I feel for these athletes who are going through uncertain times.
When it's all said and done, she will be one of two, maybe three, true seniors still on the roster next Fall. I've heard that some incoming freshman had their scholarships reduced if they had one. Not all though. But just through attrition there is more than enough room next Fall for the couple seniors who want to finish.
YES. All the conferences panicked and cancelled way too early. But also, what’s the point of having a compressed league season in the fall when the national tournament isn’t until the Spring? The ability to play some matches is important, but no sense in rushing to cram a conference season in on two weeks notice? To answer the original question, the simple reasoning is that the NCAA championship in women’s soccer is in the spring this year, the CFP for football is in the Fall. The B10 and P12 both though when they made their decision the B12 (and then the ACC and SEC) would follow their decision to cancel and they would push the CFP to the spring. But, they didn’t. So this is a money grab to make sure they get a cut of the pie and have a chance at representation in the college football playoff (of course the P12 won’t have anyone good enough, anyway). But that’s the REAL reason the ADs will say for not playing vball and soccer.
It seem exceptionalism in ignoring Covid guidelines isn’t exclusive to young people at Notre Dame. the President of Notre Dame got Covid, apparently after attending a White House affair for the SCOTUS nomination. Students have put a resolution before the Student Senate asking for his resignation. The petition criticizes Jenkins for not wearing a mask at the White House, as well as for shaking multiple hands, and taking the trip in the first place. Each of these three actions is breaking Notre Dame’s COVID-19 rules. students point out that a student would have been expelled under the Covid rules. back in August, the Student newspaper warned that the incidents of Covid weren’t exclusively from partying and warned:
Catching up on the "season" - all is quiet out on west coast. Any surprising good or bad so far for leagues that are playing?
I read 2 things recently that are very concerning. Not directly related but 1 is a documented covid spreader athletic event. The "index patient" did not have symptoms at the game but eventually 13/21 players did experience covid symptoms, 62% of them. No question that the NCAA folks and other sports governing groups will be reading and studying these kinds of reports as we approach indoor sports seasons. The 2nd is a NYT opinion piece about the value of varsity or scholarship sports at colleges. There are plenty of folks out there that are going to make schools at every level play defense in budget talks and negotiations. This thing is far from over in many many ways. An Outbreak of COVID-19 Associated with a Recreational Hockey Game — Florida, June 2020 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6941a4.htm Colleges Are Cutting Varsity Sports. That Could Be a Good Thing. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/sports/college-sports-cuts.html
Update from the real world. Article linked below right from the CDC. If anyone knows the "Chicago area" team referred to, please share. On the college team I'm most familiar with. 7 players have now contracted the virus this semester. Only 1 pair were roommates so not a team outbreak but getting it other ways. We think from family and boyfriends mostly and when students from home/other areas visit and socialize. 5 had noticeable symptoms but 2 of them were really knocked out by it. None hospitalized but headaches, fever, fatigue put them in bed for a few days. Loss of taste/smell and headaches were common but none had any respiratory symptoms other than a little congestion. Thankfully, they are fit college athletes and all completed a cardiac evaluation and 2 week return to play protocol. (2 recent cases are not there yet) One had the virus spread to her mother and grandfather and both of them were in bed for several days. Fortunately, not hospitalized but the grandfather was watched closely for about 5 days and did recover. Full disclosure, we did not ever confirm the direction of the spread in that case. We think the mom could have got it first but not sure. The player does live next door to students who all had the virus. Contact tracing has been inconsistent, if not a mess. Quarantine orders depend on who happens to be calling from the Health Dept. Some are more aggressive than others. We've had some athletes surprised to get quarantined and others have their bags packed and don't get a call. So, anecdotally, local health departments are not prepared or staffed properly for this. If this team had been traveling and playing games, I think it would have been a bit worse for sure. Simple message - it's out there, it's real, college kids do get symptoms and can spread this virus, and my only advice is to wear a mask like you wear a shirt and get new masks or wash them frequently. Lots of mask fatigue out there and I've seen some ratty looking masks on college kids. All this being said, our team was thrilled to be on campus and in classes (in person now and then) and training every week in spite of the protocols, testing, etc. I would say our team was actually pretty disciplined and did not party too much and we still had 7 cases. Because they were mostly unrelated and spread out over time, we were able to stay active lifting and training for about 8 weeks. As far as next semester and starting up again in the middle of winter? I have serious doubts about that without a vaccine. I think it would be very hard to keep this up having to be indoors so much more. COVID-19 Outbreak Among a University’s Men’s and Women’s Soccer Teams — Chicago, Illinois, July–August 2020 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6943e5.htm
I do not know what men's and women's teams are being referred to but knowing what I know about Chicago area teams my guess would be one of the two following schools. I am basing it on this line in the study "46.7% were non-Hispanic White, and 33.3% were Hispanic or Latino." North Park University UIC I originally thought that Dominican University should also be included. While Dominican is still in Cook County, it is just outside of Chicago in River Forest. The article did state "In August 2020, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) was notified of a cluster of COVID-19 cases among a university’s men’s and women’s soccer teams." North Park and UIC are both in the city.
Just wanted to follow up for those of you interested. It doesn't really matter too much what school it is. To me that is, I'm sure this is old news to those involved. But the Chronicle of Higher Education is the newspaper of record for colleges and universities. It's expensive and behind a paywall so I pasted their recent blurb about this below. It was sandwiched between Clemson QB testing positive and UTEP going to remote learning but still wanting to play football. No question that hundreds if not thousands of higher ed admins will have read this and know this example. None of it is a surprise. One or two parties can cancel out lots of expensive and time consuming work to get these kids playing. Why this weekend is so SCARY this year on college campuses. 10/29/2020 Social Gatherings ‘Negated’ Illinois University’s Preventive Measures, Causing Outbreak A Covid-19 outbreak on the men’s and women’s soccer teams at an Illinois university highlights the difficulties colleges face in preventing the spread of the coronavirus, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, released this week, traces the infection of 17 players at the unnamed university, finding that several social gatherings, at which players reported not wearing masks and not socially distancing, probably fueled the spread. Those gatherings, the report says, “quickly negated the benefits of pretraining testing, on-campus mask use, and social-distancing prevention measures” mandated by the university. —Andy Thomason
An interesting bit of data: Through yesterday, the women had played 212 games. 9 games have been canceled, but I am not sure of the reasons for the cancelations.
Another update - On the college team I'm familiar with, the number of infected players is now up to 13 confirmed and a couple more pending. About half of them are recovered but the other half are very recent. So, about half the total team infected in one semester. And this team did pcr testing about 5 times, or about every other week. Halloween was not good for college campuses/towns. That CDC story about the Chicago teams is being replicated in our town and likely many others we just haven't heard about yet. As school's approach the end of the semester, most athletes begin to have very limited day to day contact with their coaches. So, halloween parties, academic stress, less contact with coaches, mask fatigue, colder weather, all ingredients good for a virus. I do not see how college teams could handle indoor sports seasons unless there is a serious commitment to a Bubble - isolate the players - no in-person classes or mixing with narps in dining halls, off campus, or anywhere. Even socializing with other athletes is a risk. Playing Spring season soccer is still a long way away folks. Serious note - if you have a college student coming home after being on campus or in a college town. If they did not already have a confirmed infection, make sure they get tested. At least twice if you want to protect the family, esp any older or at risk.
On the college team I am familiar with the count is at 9 that they know of. Every player has been tested multiple times. Very sporadic practice because the positive cases have been spread out. I agree with Eddie K- I don't know how indoor sports are going to be pulled off. TBO I don't know how these fall sports are doing it. I don't see how my kids team could have played this fall even if allowed with the number of cases they had.
Another good piece of advice is to make sure that you get the flu vaccine this year. While the flu vaccine will not protect against Covid, it can keep a person from being weakened as a result of influenza which, in turn, could make them more susceptible to contracting covid. Additionally, if someone does not get the flue vaccine and were to become infected with the influenza virus, it would be harder for them to differentiate why they may be sick. There will be a lot of people this fall and winter that might believe that they have covid when they merely have the flu. It all has the potential to further strain the healthcare system.
And the dominos begin to Fall. Nearly every State has increasing cases. 1000 Americans are dying every day. The US is getting more cases EVERY DAY than China had in their entire covid pandemic. And college sports athletes are contracting the virus and some are getting sick and games are being canceled almost every day. And The Ivy League does not want their athletes to be a part of it. With the health & wellbeing of student-athletes & the greater campus community in mind, The Ivy League Presidents decide to forego athletics competition in fall & winter sports, postpone competition in spring sports through February 2021.📰» https://t.co/AHOsAEznUt pic.twitter.com/dFAeXsVSfI— Ivy League (@IvyLeague) November 12, 2020
the one conference that can afford to forgo their share of March Madness money for another year. I don’t know about spring soccer, other winter sports, etc. but they will find a way to have the NCAA basketball tournaments. Too much money and too many jobs at stake.
Totally agree. They need the money too much, and the minuscule risks of the virus for the college age group makes playing worthwhile. Basketball will keep their teams in bubbles and make it work to make the college athletics financial machine spinning.
NCAA will lower the required sports to maintain division one status to something like 9-10. Rest of sports will be club status-maybe?
I doubt this very much. Especially if CFP and NCAA Tournaments are able to be played this year and a safe, widely available vaccine arrives before the 21-22 school year. I don’t know what your source is, I could be wrong if you know someone credible, but I haven’t heard this in any of the division 1 circles I talk to, coaches or administrators. i will say any program not fully funded scholarship wise or with a big facility/capital project planned, can probably shelve it for awhile.
It will be interesting to see how other conferences will follow because I can’t imagine they cancel other sports and just have men’s basketball going from the Title IX standpoint. If it’s true that we will start to have vaccine available at some capacity in December, I’m surprised Ivy pulled the plug this early. Though maybe not because they really don’t care about sports anyway?
Just read that the NCAA is voting to extend the recruiting dead period through April, vote is next week. RIP for 2021 graduates who haven't signed yet
They will play both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments for sure. And I actually believe they will play the rest of the tournaments in other sports as well (certain schools or conferences may opt out). But it’s a matter of fact that they have to play the basketball tournaments for the $$$ like I said ivies pulled the plug because they literally don’t need the NCAA money compared to others. A lot of coaching positions at ivies are endowed as well. But it’s also a PR move as well.
Crazy increases in cases and hospitalizations again. Colleges that did have kids on campus now going virtual. Entire States like Michigan and cities like Philadelphia mandating it. I heard New Mexico had moved their football team to a Nevada hotel to avoid their State restrictions. More crazy for these kids. On the Vaccine, I read the prediction below that most college kids could get the vaccine by summer so the hope for a somewhat normal Fall 2021 is pretty good. I don't see how basketball athletes could take a vaccine during the season even if they could get it. And I don't see athletes getting priority either in the Spring semester. So, we're all now seeing if basketball in your favorite conference can actually make it to about Feb 1st in their current testing and mitigation protocol. If they can do it, then there will be hope for outdoor training and games in a Spring semester. ALSO - local counties around me are now closing parks, shutting down rec programming, and/or limiting use to 'in county' or 'in state' residents. Lots of interstate travel restrictions as well that involve either testing or quarantine requirements or both. It's not so much the athletes but the parents that have caused this. I was walking out of a soccer game at a local park and the flag football folks were walking in and almost no masks on anyone. People in denial about this virus are costing all of us and our kids access to schools, parks, events and of course overloading our healthcare system again. College Students Could Be Vaccinated by Next Summer, if ‘Everything Goes Perfectly’ In the past week two drugmakers, Pfizer and Moderna, have announced that their respective candidates for Covid-19 vaccines have proved more than 90 percent effective in advanced clinical tests. That’s good news, and while a rollout is months away, it means college leaders may be able to start thinking about the possibility of an inoculated campus. If all goes well, experts say, college students may be able to receive vaccinations before the summer. In a news conference on Friday, Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed, which is designed to develop and distribute coronavirus vaccines, said that the Pfizer and Moderna products may be approved in December. College students in their late teens or 20s, however, would generally be among those farther back in line to receive such shots. For example, according to recommendations by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, young adults who aren’t essential workers and who don’t have health conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 should be in the third out of four tiers of Americans to receive vaccines. If Slaoui is correct about the vaccine-approval timeline, Barry R. Bloom, a professor of public health at Harvard University who is advising Massachusetts on vaccine distribution, said that “the hope is most people who are willing or keen to take a vaccine, we will have vaccines for them by the end of spring, before summer.” “That would be wonderful,” he said. “That’s the outlook on time, assuming everything goes perfectly.” —Francie Diep