The NJCAA, which ruled Monday that will move sports from fall to spring for the 2020-2021 school year, has forced schools like Florida SouthWestern State College to think again about what their sports systems might look like in dubious times.
Dominoes will also boost winter sports like basketball from October to January.
For FSW, providing only volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball means your program will have to have only 3 other people directly affected, for now.
In addition: FSW volleyball and basketball have evolved while high schools adjust seasons due to coronavirus
Athletic director George Sanders saw the resolution as the NJCAA’s solution to give its establishments the ability to function to the fullest capacity.
On Monday, the school opened its doors for prospective students to receive in-person enrollment assistance. Classes are scheduled to begin on August 24 and students will have several learning options. In-person courses with site interaction following social distance rules will be an option, while the other 4 will involve facets of virtual learning ranging from a hybrid course with on-site commands to full online learning.
“The school has done a very smart task on how we teach,” Sanders said. “I give a lot of credit to Dr. Eileen DeLuca, and the organization that has trained teachers, our staff and management to give characteristics to our students.”
For FSW, volleyball is the game that will delight you with the greatest change. Preparations for the season were scheduled to begin on August 1 before their first game on August 21. From now on, the Bucs will not advance to the box for official testing until January 4 and will not play their first game. fit until January 22.
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Katie Dickey, a former North Fort Myers High star, will be an initiator of the volleyball team and is about to begin. Having met some of his new teammates through channels like Zoom, he is ahead of being part of the team.
“It’s unhappy that the season was the other way around, but it gives more time to education to be the possible team,” Dickey said. “I’m very excited about the season.”
The basketball season scheduled to begin on October 1 with games scheduled for the last weekend of October. Regular season education will now begin on January 11 and games will begin on January 29. The national tournament also was postponed with March Madness himself becoming April Madness by 2021.
The women’s basketball team will be led by Dr. Jerald Ellis, who has been an assistant for more than 4 years under Kristy Ward-Cangelosi. While he’ll have to wait a little longer to get started, Ellis, who was in the head coach beyond on Immokalee and Island Coast, between the stops along the way, is eagerly awaiting the challenge.
“This is a change, but having been in our region for a long time and in my past, I am open to change,” Ellis said. “I don’t think it’s going to deter what we’re looking to do and what we need to achieve.”
“I’m satisfied that they put a plan in position and now we know what to do and we’re no longer in limbo,” Murphy said. “I think we’re sticking to the birth of January and the birth from there.”
An impediment to the 3 groups that can get help with official education and postponed matches is the fact that foreign players are on their list and whether or not they can arrive in time for the back-to-school season with possible restrictions due to COVID. 19.
Last season, the volleyball team featured players from Brazil, Germany, Bulgaria, France and Egypt. Baziquetto-Allen will load 8 newcomers, adding one from Italy, and hopes everyone can make it in time to start the categories in August.
“If we had kept the season in the fall, there were some players we weren’t sure they’d be there in time to play,” Baziquetto-Allen said. “Now that it’s moved to spring, we probably have the list we’ve recruited to play the season. We want to bring you here in the fall to make sure you get the credits you want and stay on the Graduate path. Arrange for anything we can do to get them on time, we want to do it.
Murphy and Ellis also have several players covered for next season, however, for the men’s team, four of the five expected foreign players are already in the U.S. And they’ll be on campus on time. Jovan Kojic, a product of The Canterbury School, has returned to Serbia during the summer, however, Murphy said he deserves to be back in time to start his first year.
Ellis has players from Chile, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico and Cyprus and is not sure that some will not reach southwest Florida in the fall with the current state of the pandemic. As positive as it is for your entire team to get to campus on time, the delay of the season can benefit this situation.