By: Hannah Sang
On Wednesday, July 8, the eight Ivy League presidents announced the cancellation of the fall sports season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This decision was made based on the current information about the coronavirus and its rapid infection. Student-wellbeing was not determined as maintainable if the fall sports season continued during the pandemic. The announcement also specifically stated: “With the information available to us today regarding the continued spread of the virus, we simply do not believe we can create and maintain an environment for intercollegiate athletic competition that meets our requirements for safety and acceptable levels of risk. ”
Ivy League Sports include basketball, lacrosse, rowing, track and field, squash, and many more types of sports. More than 8,000 student-athletes compete yearly. The fall sports cancellation could have a great impact on athletes for the rest of the upcoming 2020-2021 school year and prevent them from going on with their regular schedules.
Students and coaches are also disappointed, but not surprised after the announcement was officially published. Jordan G. Hill, Harvard’s football captain, is still telling teammates to remain optimistic that they can return to the football fields in spring if global health conditions improve.
“Control what you can control. And this is out of our control. We can’t really do much about it. Just on your day-to-day, keep working as if the season will come back eventually,” Hill told his teammates. “I think that there’s potential for us to be playing in the spring.”
Coach Ray Priore, a football coach at the University of Pennsylvania, also has a glimmer of hope for returning in the spring. He agrees that he and his team should follow the rules to make sure everyone is safe and healthy. “My message, we’re going to need to abide by all the rules. One person getting affected could mean many more have to be quarantined. You really have to be meticulous,” Priore said.
In an interview with ESPN, Robin Harris, the Ivy League Council of Presidents’ second full-time Executive Director, said that while the schools undergo budget cuts, the possible realities of the decision are still unknown. She states that the situation is more about policies than finances despite the losses.
Nonetheless, questions still remain: will the spread of the coronavirus cancel sports for the rest of the year? What impacts will it actually bring? The future is full of possibilities.
Sources:
Harvard Crimson- https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/7/9/ivy-league-cancels-fall-sports-coronavirus/