Penn State Beaver’s fall and winter sports suffered a big loss to the coronavirus after the Penn State University Athletic Conference Executive Committee voted unanimously in December to cancel the 2020-21 season.
The decision impacts men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball. Those teams were clinging to hopes that the PSUAC would approve competition sometime during the spring semester.
In a release distributed Dec. 18, the PSUAC said it has been following university, federal, state and national governing–body guidelines, as well as national trends in intercollegiate athletics this fall. It said the pandemic presented “unprecedented challenges.”
“The health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and campus communities has continued to be the most important aspect of the PSUAC’s attempts to resocialize intercollegiate sports at the Commonwealth Campuses,” the release said.
Maureen Cooper, director of Commonwealth Campus athletics, said canceling the season for these sports was the last option.
“We have looked at multiple options to preserve intercollegiate athletics competition, but the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff has always been the most important aspect in our discussion and was the determining factor in this decision,” Cooper said in the release.
The PSUAC will continue to look for ways to engage student athletes, “including strength and conditioning, small group activities, team practices and scrimmages,” the release said.
Athletic Director Andy Kirschner said Beaver’s staff is already planning activities.
“The athletic department plans to keep our student-athletes engaged during the spring semester,” Kirschner said in an email to campus faculty and staff. “Once we return to campus, they will be allowed to condition and then practice in small groups. Our goal is as the pandemic lessens, they will be able to return to full team practices as well as intra-squad games.”
A decision about what will happen to baseball and softball’s seasons, which typically start in March, will be made in January. Last spring at the start of the pandemic, both teams had their seasons abruptly canceled during their spring break training trips and right before conference competition kicked off.
Kirschner said in the email that both teams have hopes of playing this year. “Their seasons will be evaluated in January of the feasibility of safely competing this spring.”