Return of Scots sports is long-awaited news
- Tom Rife: Livin' the Team
- February 4, 2021
- 709
Summon the bagpipers!
With the resumption of intercollegiate athletic events on the campus of The College of Wooster already in progress, let “Scotland the Brave” proudly echo through the hills yet again. The Fighting Scots are back in action.
That was the official, long-awaited word that came down this week from the school’s department of athletics and physical education, where director Amy Heasley Williams confirmed the North Coast Athletic Conference member has the green light to proceed with practices and contests in men’s and women’s basketball, as well as swimming and diving and track and field.
While such events will take place without fans in attendance, the news came as a welcome relief for beleaguered coaches and athletes who’ve been required to put actual competition on the back burner since early last spring.
Given the ongoing battle to rein in the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, there is certain to be a degree of uncertainty as to just how everything will pan out.
“Flexibility and patience are key as we move forward. We know things will change. To be sure, we are proceeding with caution. Our ability to play at any time this semester will be largely dependent on the institutional and local public health landscape,” Williams said in a prepared statement.
Under the leadership of first-year head coach Doug Cline, the men’s basketball team was scheduled to be the first Scots squad to take the court. A home game against rival Wittenberg on Friday was to be followed by a clash of those same two teams Saturday afternoon in Springfield.
The women’s basketball team has home games against DePauw this Saturday and Sunday.
The winter sports programs are not the only ones eager to compete again. Fall and spring sports also are included in the mix. Football, for example, was allowed to resume practice Feb. 1, and there will be a gradual phase-in, with three practices per week until further notice. Coaches can hold additional small group/individual practices.
Spring sports also will phase in, starting with three practices in the first two weeks, then graduating to four and then to five. These coaches can hold additional small group/individual practices.
All College of Wooster students will be tested weekly. When competition begins, testing will be reviewed in alignment with NCAC Health and Safety Committee expectations and NCAA Sport Science Institute recommendations. As high-transmission risk sports, basketball and football will be tested more frequently when competition begins.
Any College of Wooster opponent will be required to test at the levels recommended by the NCAA Sport Science Institute as outlined in the return-to-competition guidelines.
With no spectators permitted onsite at any of the contests, Williams said the college will livestream as many official varsity contests as possible, free of charge. Links are to be available on individual team schedules.
Health and safety protocols have been carefully reviewed including testing, practice re-acclimatization, small group and functional unit work. The administration has expressed its commitment to masking and physical distancing whenever possible.
To generally reduce travel, Wooster’s schedules — released this past week but subject to change — are focused more locally. The NCAC has adopted geographically based divisional schedules in all spring sports except track and field, as most schools are not permitting overnight travel.
Administrators from each institution will be in contact with each other prior to each scheduled competition to evaluate the institutional and local public health landscapes. Updates to schedules will be posted on www.WoosterAthletics.com and shared on the athletic department’s social-media accounts.
The plan to conduct a football season might take on some interesting twists. In a season to run from March to mid-April, the NCAC may be split into two divisions. The possible scenario could be similar to the one put into place this spring by the Ohio Athletic Conference, also Div. III.
The OAC is to play a five-game football schedule over six weeks. It broke football up into two divisions with five teams in each, with teams facing everybody in their division once. Come Week 6, teams play the team in the other division that matches what place they are in.
No exact football schedule for this spring has been released yet, as everyone is focused on getting the winter sports activities in motion.
Like most everything related to the coronavirus pandemic, the future of COW sports no doubt will remain a work in progress.
One thing is certain, however: Those in “Scotland” are sure to be brave.