U Sports cancels 2021 winter national championships - Oct 15, 2020 No national championships in Canadian university sport will happen this season. U Sports has cancelled its 2021 national tournaments because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacted sports are men's and women's basketball, hockey, swimming, track and field, volleyball and wrestling. The governing body of Canadian university sport previously called off this fall's Vanier Cup and two bowl games, as well as championships in men's and women's soccer, cross-country running and women's field hockey and rugby. Curling Canada also previously announced the suspension of the 2021 national tournament. The Atlantic, Ontario, Canada West and Quebec conferences supported scuttling the remainder of the nine tournaments across the country, according to U Sports interim chief executive officer Dick White. "It was very clear in the conversations with the conferences, that although they may entertain some form of competition during the winter semester, the logistics of attending a national championship were just not feasible at all for the programs across the country," White told The Canadian Press on Thursday. Roughly 20,000 student-athletes participate in varsity sport at 56 schools across Canada. Teams flying to other provinces with varying pandemic restrictions and returning is problematic, as is the financial burden of hosting a national championship without fans and reduced sponsorship, White said. "We heard back from our hosts who said to us 'I don't think we can do this,"' he said. "The second wave just kind of sealed the deal here. "It's quite a sad time really." No available vaccine and the number of infections rising in some parts of the country were factors in the decision. "It is important to consider the impact on the under-30 university demographic," U Sports chief medical officer Taryn Taylor said in a statement. "As the number of cases rise during the second wave of COVID-19, and without an available vaccine, ongoing sports restrictions are required to ensure student-athlete health and safety." Atlantic Canada requires anyone entering from outside the region to quarantine for 14 days. Halifax, Saint John, N.B., and Charlottetown were scheduled to host the men's basketball, track and field and men's hockey championships respectively in March. White reiterated that athletes will not lose a year of scholarship eligibility, known as Athletic Financial Awards, to the pandemic. The four conferences previously cancelled all varsity competition until the end of 2020 with a decision to be made on a possible resumption in January. Many athletes are currently on their respective campuses training in their school's sports facilities while taking classes online. Several schools are still holding football practices and virtual team meetings without any regular-season or exhibition games. "I'm hopeful that in spite of the national championships, that within the provincial health guidelines wherever our universities reside, that there is still some opportunity for perhaps a little bit of competition, and some reason for athletes to get together and to continue to train," White said. Courtesy of sportsnet.ca Ontario University Athletics (OUA) announced all OUA sports will be cancelled for the winter 2021 semester, citing public health guidelines. - Oct 26, 2020 The decision comes as many parts of the province enter a second wave of COVID-19 cases. The OUA, under the direction of its Board of Directors, said in a statement that all OUA-sanctioned sport programming and championships will be put on hold until March 31, 2021. 'This difficult decision was based on provincial public health guidelines and with the health and well-being of all OUA participants at the forefront. Given recent increases in cases across the province, it has become clear that OUA-sanctioned return to competition would not be safe for the second term,' the statement reads. Courtesy of oua.ca Canada West cancel winter 2021 national championships - Oct 15, 2020 U SPORTS and Canada West have cancelled conference and national championships for winter 2021. The announcement follows their decision in June to suspend competition due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This was an unanimous decision among the four conferences: Atlantic University Sport, Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec, Ontario University Athletics and Canada West. Included in the cancellation are women's and men's championships in basketball, hockey, swimming, track and field, volleyball and wrestling. Curling Canada also previously announced the suspension of the 2021 university championships in September. U SPORTS will announce its updated future hosting rotation before the end of the year. 'It is important to consider the impact on the under-30 university demographic,' said Dr. Taryn Taylor, U SPORTS chief medical officer and representative on the Own the Podium Return to Sports Task Force, in a statement. 'As the number of cases rise during the second wave of COVID-19, and without an available vaccine, on-going sports restrictions are required to ensure student-athlete health and safety.' 'This isn't the outcome any of us wanted, however, it has become increasingly clear over the last few weeks that the environment wasn't going to change sufficiently to ensure safe competition in traditional conference formats in these sports," said CW President Clint Hamilton in a press release. 'Ultimately our members saw no feasible path to staging traditional Canada West conference events during the 2020-21 season in these sports Our members will now shift their focus to finding new ways of delivering non-conference sport competition for our student-athletes,' Hamilton added. While national and regional competitions are cancelled, CW has suggested conference members to explore regional, non-conference plays. This could include friendlies and exhibitions being arranged in place of the normal varsity competition schedule. As for the Thunderbirds, they will continue to be able to train on campus, even though most competitions are either suspended or cancelled. Following strict COVID-19 guidelines, student athletes have the opportunity to train with teammates and familiarize themselves with their environment. 'Our department of the university is going to continue to keep the student-athletes' down into the core of our decision making work and then we'll be working with our coaching staff and our student athletes to create some level of regular training competition and competitive play,' said Kavie Toor, managing director of UBC athletics and recreation, in a previous statement to The Ubyssey. Courtesy of canadawest.org Winter season of Atlantic University Sport cancelled - Nov 25, 2020 There will be no 2020-21 varsity season for the 11 universities that make up the Atlantic University Sport conference. The governing body has decided to scrap the winter season because of how hard the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting Atlantic Canada. "We had hoped to be able to get to a place where we could see some semblance of a regular season and postseason take place for our winter sport student-athletes," said Phil Currie, AUS executive director, in a news release. "Unfortunately, given the current realities in many of our regions, and evolving Public Health directives, this won't be possible." That's despite the work of a special committee comprising athletic directors from each of the four Atlantic provinces, along with two representatives from AUS. The group worked for weeks on developing plans for safe travel and play between the 11 universities that make up the conference. It recommended league play and championships go ahead if Public Health rules permitted it. "The number one in the recommendations was to get back to a league schedule with championships, so it was certainly something we examined and in our committee took a close look look at, but we have to also deal in reality," said Currie. "And reality is the epidemiology just doesn't allow it." Although there will be no conference-sanctioned regular seasons or postseasons this year, individual universities are permitted to play at a level they are comfortable with, with teams in close proximity to one another. It will be up to the universities to decide whether they will pit teams against one another, given local restrictions. "They can play among themselves (if) it's safe to do so and in line with what's happening with the epidemiology at the time," he said. "I think that's for us a win." "It's unfortunate that we can't get the league play." Winter sports include hockey, basketball, volleyball, swimming, curling and track and field. AUS cancelled the fall season in June of this year. Courtesy of atlanticuniversitysport.com The RSEQ cancels winter sports' seasons - Oct 27, 2020 For sports like basketball, having no season will be a challenging first experience Student-athletes face a new challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it will be a tough one to overcome: they cannot play. The government announced in early October that all team sports were cancelled in the province of Quebec. The cancellation came right in the heat of and in response to the pandemic's second wave. Then, the Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) announced that it was cancelling winter sports until at least Jan. 15, affecting Concordia's teams directly. When the Stingers men's basketball team head coach Rastko Popovic initially heard the RSEQ announcement, he said wasn't surprised, especially with similar situations going on everywhere else across Canada. 'I think Quebec is still delaying it just to give it a chance in case the situation cools,' Popovic said. 'As sad as I am for our student-athletes and for everybody not being able to have a league, it probably is the best decision.' Without CEGEP games to watch, coaches have had to find new ways to find, attract and recruit new players. The team is using video calls, text messages, emails and even PowerPoint presentations to recruit players while no game or sports activity is allowed. Another issue often forgotten with the pandemic is academic repercussions. A lot of athletes use the thought of playing basketball as motivation for their classes, especially as they have to maintain certain academic standards in order to remain on their team. Now this motivation is harder to come by, as they are stuck doing online classes just like every other student. 'I think all the coaches will be concerned with that, it's just not easy,' Popovic said. 'I follow up with my players on a weekly basis. We have online tutoring available also.' This kind of improvisation has been a key part of keeping the athletes on the right track academically, but Popovic recognizes that athletes aren't the only ones suffering from remote learning, as it hasn't been easy for all students. Popovic was very clear about the impact the situation could have on his team's chemistry. He said he teaches his players to compete for every playing minute, so if his players are competitors, chemistry will come quickly and won't be that big of an issue. By competing at a high level, chemistry usually sets in really quickly, because you get to understand the playing style of your teammates in a very short time. 'It's going to be affecting everybody and take a little bit of time, but we have veteran players returning and other experienced guys coming in from transfers,' Popovic said. 'That will help us once we get back together. We have a very good team culture and our veterans are very good at setting the example.' Courtesy of rseq.ca |
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