By: Liam Cooney | Staff-writer
When the NCAA cancelled all remaining winter and spring championships this past March, college sports fans across the country were left shocked and devastated at what had just suddenly occurred. The COVID-19 pandemic has left us with so many extraordinary challenges which we have never even dreamt of having to face. One of those unique challenges would be playing a full college football season in the spring of 2021.
A possible logistical nightmare, who ever thought 2020 would bring us such an unusual occurrence as football, and all other fall sports, attempting to play their postponed seasons in the spring of 2021? Instead of falling temperatures and Turkey bowls, we can now hopefully look forward to a Salve Regina Football season with steadily rising temperatures, and maybe a Saint Patrick’s Day, or Easter-themed game.
Here are a list of important events that led to the postponement of the originally scheduled 2020 Fall Football Season:
- The Coronavirus pandemic starts to take hold and gain national attention in early to mid-March
- Starting on March 11th with the NBA’s announcement of a 30 day hiatus, sports leagues both professionally and collegiately across the country begin to immediately postpone or cancel the remainder of their seasons, which leads to the cancellation of major sports leagues entirely for more than four months
- The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) cancels all fall 2020 sports on July 10th
- The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) suspends all fall conference play on July 17th saying in quote, “the decision to suspend CCC play in the Fall 2020 semester does not preclude individual CCC institutions from making institutional decisions to schedule some athletic competition.”
- DIII Presidents council officially cancelled fall championships for all sports on August 5th
Salve head football coach Kevin Gilmartin, who will be entering his 8th season at the helm and 9th total at Salve, told me it was a “multi-tiered decision” when it came to cancelling the fall season. “Coaches would speak to ADs, ADs would have meetings, and then school Presidents would have meetings. Those Presidents would ultimately be the ones making the decisions… if anything happens, the schools would be held liable,” Gilmartin told me. Comically enough, these “meetings” being referred to were most likely on Cisco WebEx or Zoom, two online platforms I’m sure we’ve all had our fair share of by now.
Although a Spring Football season is not ideal in any circumstance, it is something to look forward to in a time that has been very unusual for everyone, including those on college campuses. In the same sentence, it should be acknowledged that playing a dominant and financially influential sport, in a completely different season and calendar year, can present its own set of unique challenges. Those challenges include having adequate field time and facility space while having to share with other traditional spring sports; forcing multi-sport athletes to choose which team they would like to participate in; and even properly preparing for a football season which follow the strict safety guidelines of the CDC, state governor, and NCAA.
The Seahawks started organized practice on September 22nd, with the whole team operating under three practice groups, each group containing its own “pods,” which contain no more than 15 players. Quite challenging, seeing that the Seahawks have upwards of 100 players, plus coaches. How they’re making this all work: Gilmartin tells me the team is working on a lot of conditioning and “individual skills” type work, making sure they can have their guys in as best shape possible right now.
As for what the Spring season would actually look like, here is what the breakdown of the schedule is looking like as of now:
- Northern Division: Husson, University of New England, Endicott, Curry
- Southern Division: Western New England, Nichols, Becker, Salve Regina
- As of right now, the CCC has proposal in place to allow each school one out of conference game
An extremely unusual schedule could bring about some extremely unusual occurrences this spring football season. Aside from the topics of facility space, the side effects of a thrown off football season could carry over in numerous ways for years to come. Football is, without a doubt, a physically taxing sport; make no mistake that it’s not a concern of the coaching staff, having their players play potentially two full seasons all within a 5-6 month time frame. “Us coaches need to take care of the players,” Gilmartin told me. He also once again added that given the current circumstances, all the team can continue to do is make sure their players are in the best shape possible, and that playing back to back seasons has been something the coach staff has been “planning for.” As the challenges are clearly imminent, coach Gilmartin and the Seahawks are simply hoping for the opportunity to play, a sentiment probably shared with so many high school and collegiate athletes across the nation right now. Gilmartin told me that the initial cancellation was devastating for him and his players, but there is now growing optimism and “excitement” as the spring season nears.
Nothing about any of this is ideal; obviously we would have loved to have football and all other traditionally fall sports playing already. As a lacrosse player, my main season is in the spring, but there is nothing I love more than to see my fellow peers compete and win on the field in whatever sport it is. For me personally, and for so many others, I miss seeing my school on the gridiron.
The wide scope of challenges Coronavirus has presented to us are overwhelming and confusing. You’re telling me they have to play football in the spring? That doesn’t make sense… it really doesn’t. On top of the difficult and sticky logistics of playing a full season in the spring, and making it a successful one, I’m beginning to get exhausted before all of this anticipation has even settled! However the fact remains, we want to see our fall, winter and spring athletes get the chance to play, and while logistics will continue to remain difficult, the desire of making it all work greatly exceeds any challenge that may be faced. Looking forward to seeing Salve football this coming spring!
Photos by George Corrigan / https://www.gcorrphotos.com/ / @gcorrphotos
