All Spring Sports Canceled Due to Covid-19
By Rachel Berning
Rachelo.berning@gmail.com
Staff Writer
All of City College’s Spring Sports programs have been cancelled for the rest of the season, leaving the student athletes devastated.
Practices for all sports have been cancelled as well through June 30.
Recruiting has also been put on hold until April 15.“Whether to extend the ban will be reviewed as that date approaches. The recruiting ban prohibits face-to-face recruiting as well as any recruiting related travel,” said Interim Executive Director of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Jennifer A. Cardone.
CCCAA is granting affected student athletes another season of eligibility. This decision was made to protect the health and safety of student athletes’ coaches, and administrators of participating teams.
The Board of Directors subsequently voted that nearly 9,500 student-athletes who competed this spring will have their season of competition restored, provided they had not quit or been cut from their teams prior to the seasons being postponed by the CCCAA on March 12.
“The reinstatement of a season shall be treated as if the partial season of competition never existed for athletic purposes,” Cardone said
However, all records, statistics and individual and team achievements up until the cancellation will remain intact.
“We will work with the NCAA and the NAIA on behalf of our student-athletes. We will also discuss whether any further measures can or should be temporarily implemented to assist our spring sports student-athletes,” Cardone said
Many Athletic Students are very unhappy with this sudden ending because they lost their team for the year and may not ever see each other again. Either because it is their last season, or they need to focus on their careers.
“The cancellation of the season hit me especially hard. This was my last chance to participate in the swim team before I entered the Dental Assistant program, when I was planning to focus on my studies,” Freshman Swimmer Ievgeniia Broz said. “This means I probably won’t get another chance to be on the swim team. That sucks because I got so much value out of it. I love being part of a team and I love that we are working together now to keep each other in shape and in a good mood.”
Sophomore Swimmer Arianna Moras said, “I can’t see my team, my second family. The team that grew so much from day one got shot down in the middle of our season and since it was my last year with the team it was really sad.”
Freshman Swimmer Zoe Eichen said, “It’s devastating, being on the swim team and having a sense of community that we see everyday. It’s done so much for not only our physical but our mental and emotional well-being.”
Baseball player Alec White said, “Well obviously it sucked cause now a lot of us have no clue what school we are going to transfer to, but it’s not in our control and we are definitely not the only team or players going through something like this, so we have to stay positive and keep our head up. It affected me in a big way a lot of schools were coming to watch me and now they can’t and it’s affecting my recruiting.”
Swim team coach Natalie Taylor said “It is unfortunate that the season ended as it did. We had the makeup of a strong team this year, with great team cohesion, and I believe we would have done very well at our conference championships. But the health and safety of our student-athletes is the top priority, therefore we have understood the importance of the decision made, and we are continuing to meet weekly via Zoom in order to keep the team spirit alive. I look forward to next year’s competitions, and am hopeful that the majority of swimmers will return to use their reestablished year of eligibility.”