Who’s Making Decisions for Brockport Athletics, and What do Those Look Like?
For just around a year now, New Yorkers have been dealing with special circumstances regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Ever since the major outbreak and a surge in cases last March, there have been mask mandates and social distancing reforms that restaurants, retail stores and all other forms of business and entertainment must follow to ensure the health and safety of the public. It is no different when it comes to the sports world and industry. We’ve all seen how processional sports are being handled. Little to no fans, modified seasons and heavy health precautions for players. Well the same changes have been seen for collegiate sports, especially here in New York, where the risk levels are still high. This Spring 2021 Semester, SUNY Brockport is trying its best to give its student-athletes the greatest athletic experience possible, amid all the risks related to the health of the student body. Here is what that will look like for Brockport’s Spring athletes.
During the Spring 2020 Semester, right around when COVID-19 started to become much more relevant, Brockport created the campus Emergency Operations Committee. This team, being bound by state and Monroe County regulations, as well as the NCAA, makes decisions and approves certain suggestions made for the athletic programs that call Brockport home. Along with this, the SUNYAC Conference administrators have been meeting weekly to discuss and ensure there are proper plans in place in order to safely conduct spring athletic competition.
Susan Hoffman, an Associate Director of Athletics at SUNY Brockport, described in an email the changes that Brockport athletics would see this Spring.
“Changes include masking at all times, and testing for not only student-athletes and coaches, but support personnel, officials and scorekeepers as well,” Hoffman explained.
“Also, no fans in the stands,” She wrote, surely in an unfortunate tone.
These mandates, decided by SUNYAC conference administrators, are what student-athletes must follow in order to participate this Spring season. This means getting tested weekly (along with the rest of the student-body), wearing masks to practices and games, limited use of locker rooms and weight rooms and the use of smaller, more separated pods during practices, to keep athletes socially distanced. The seasons of Spring athletic programs have also been modified, as the schedules have been shortened to only play a select group of opponents, based on distance, to eliminate the use of overnight traveling and minimize the number of travelers.
As Hoffman explained in her email, the SUNYAC conference is still considering more options.
“Out of conference games are still being considered, but have to be approved by the SUNY Presidents,” she wrote.
And the volatility of decisions, rules and regulations are high, as any change or spike in cases can result in new precautions to ensure the health of everyone involved. Just last week, Brockport saw a small jump in positive test results, which forced athletic programs to divide into even smaller practice pods and in some cases completely halt activity.
Hoffman wrote, in conclusion, it comes down to the cooperation on students.
“Bottom line, we need to keep the school open and students on campus in order to overcome this pandemic.”
Without the daily operations of the school and its students, Brockport athletic programs would not be able to run. And at the end of the day, student-athletes must stay engaged and responsible in order to prevent social misfortunes and the spread of the virus. Soon, things will look normal again, and teams will hold normal practices and fans will be able to come to the games. However, for now, this is what collegiate athletes must deal with in order to keep playing. Its either that, or no participation at all.
