Community college sports must decide if they’re in or out

Grossmont College will be among the member institutions in the California Community College Athletic Association that will have to make a decision by Dec. 18 on whether to opt-in or opt-out of early spring sports, including football.

Casualties from the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pan­demic keep piling up.

The California Collegiate Athletic Association announced on Dec. 3 that it was canceling all conference schedules for both the winter/spring sea­sons, leaving it up to individual institutions to schedule compe­titions that meet local health and safety protocols. This could include non-league and exhibi­tion games.

Locally, Cal State San Marcos is affected by the decision made by the 12-member Division II conference.

Other collegiate organiza­tions are still hoping to get in at least a limited schedule of conference play amid a turbu­lent and ever-changing health landscape.

The California Community College Athletic Association Board of Directors voted Nov. 6 to continue forward with its Contingency Plan, which pro­vides the CCCAA with a frame­work for a return to competition this spring, while also providing decision-making guidance for institutions.

The Contingency Plan, which was approved in July, moved all 24 of the CCCAA’s sports to one of two sessions in the spring with traditional fall sports — as well as men’s and women’s bas­ketball — participating in the first half and remaining sports competing in the second.

After lengthy discussion, the CCCAA Board of Directors reaffirmed following the Con­tingency Plan while also ex­pressing that the plan is only a framework and final decisions to participate in competition will be left to institutions in consul­tation with their local health authorities. The board also requested the COVID-19 Work Group determine opt-in/opt-out dates for schools to indicate par­ticipation for the spring while understanding that extenuating circumstances may arise that may lead institutions to opt out at later date.

The Board of Directors also approved a motion to provide student-athletes a waiver for any CCCAA competition dur­ing the 2020-21 athletic year in order to support the success, safety and well-being of student-athletes.

The CCCAA suspended its spring sports on March 12 and subsequently canceled them a week later.

Under the Contingency Plan, the following sports are slated to play in an early spring schedule block: basketball, cross coun­try, football, women’s golf, soc­cer, women’s volleyball, water polo and wrestling. Badminton, baseball, beach volleyball, men’s golf, softball, swim/dive, tennis, track and field and men’s volley­ball are slated for the late spring session.

Early spring sports, including football, are scheduled to start practices on Jan. 18, followed by competition dates starting Feb. 5-13. The conference competi­tion end date is April 6, followed by regional playoffs starting April 10 and an end to the season on April 17.

Late spring sports are sched­uled to start practices March 27 with an end date of the season on June 23.

Santa Barbara City College has already elected to opt-out of the early 2021 spring season of athletic competition due to concerns related to COVID-19. Ten sports teams that normally play in the fall will not compete in the 2020-21 campaign. They include football, men’s and wom­en’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s water polo, women’s golf, women’s volley­ball and men’s and women’s cross country.

The CCCAA’s deadline for in­stitutions to decide whether to play early spring sports is Dec. 18. The deadline to make a deci­sion for late spring sports is Feb. 26, 2021.

Other institutions, including Grossmont College and other Pacific Coast Athletic Confer­ence schools locally, will be making their decisions shortly.

Twice weekly or weekly testing for the COVID-19 virus among student-athletes and staff will present a major fi­nancial burden unless outside grants can be obtained.

“Our mentality is that we’re going to prepare as if we’re go­ing to play,” Southwestern foot­ball head coach Ed Carberry said. “The color (assigned to a region) we have no control over. Right now, it’s classroom in­struction through Zoom meet­ings and guest speakers.”

A move into the Red Tier or even less restrictive measures could allow for onsite condition­ing or workouts at a future date.

Updates: cccaasports.org.

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