Cal Poly fall sports canceled due to COVID concerns. Is football season affected?
Cal Poly fall sports including soccer and volleyball, which had been considered for spring competitions, have been canceled as part of a Big West Conference decision.
The Big West’s decision was announced Thursday in response to ongoing health and safety challenges affecting its conference campuses and communities, Cal Poly officials said in a news release.
The decision does not impact Cal Poly football, which is in the Big Sky Conference, and all other sports unaffiliated with the Big West Conference. Cal Poly’s football season begins Feb. 27.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams, which are in the Big West Conference, also won’t be affected as their winter seasons have already begun.
The cancellation of athletics traditional to fall included men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s indoor volley, which would have required significant resources to best safeguard the health of student-athletes.
“We all share in the frustration being felt by our coaches and student-athletes,” Mustang director of athletics Don Oberhelman said in the release. “I appreciate everyone’s patience in these trying times, and encourage us all to be available for the extra effort it will take to continue with playing sports this winter and spring.”
Cal Poly said the Big West Conference’s board of directors will continue to monitor and evaluate the current program of COVID-19 medical and safety protocols for basketball, helping to guide safe returns to competition for Big West spring sports. A decision around how to handle spring sports is expected by late January 2021.
“Protecting the health and safety of our student-athletes and following public health guidelines are our top priorities,” Big West commissioner Dan Butterly said in the release. “Despite a strong desire to return our fall sport student-athletes to competition, the board unanimously agreed that the resources and protocols needed to safely and equitably conduct fall, winter and spring sports seasons concurrently was not in line with those priorities nor in the best interests of our student-athletes and coaches.”
Cal Poly officials added that, as medical and scientific data on the cororonavirus pandemic evolves, the conference will continue to monitor developments and will consider additional actions as needed.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Cal Poly fall sports canceled due to COVID concerns. Is football season affected?."
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