TYLER PACOS
Special to The Leader
An article released on Tuesday, Sept. 29, by the Buffalo News said that the University at Buffalo, which is home to NCAA Division I sports, have paused their football, volleyball and women’s soccer programs due to 25 student athletes testing positive for COVID-19.
Most schools have been open for a little over a month now, but COVID is still looming around many campuses in New York State.
Since many Division I schools are losing out on income typically gained from hosting sporting events, they are doing whatever they can to make some sort of revenue this year.
The resumption of sports is one of the main goals for Division I schools right now, but how they are able to do this safely still seems to be unknown.
Although there will be no games until Jan. 1 at the earliest, most Fredonia teams have already started practicing for a potential season.
Sophomore Amanda Eastman plays for the softball team and she has been very impressed with the protocols her team follows.
“Fredonia makes it mandatory for all teams to wear masks while practicing. With our team specifically, we try to hold practices outside at all times if possible,” she said.
After reading about UB pausing certain sports due to a recent outbreak, Eastman still had a positive outlook for the spring season.
“Our fall games were cancelled this year, but I’m hoping to get some games in this spring. Hopefully, there is more flexibility with our schedule due to spring break being cancelled and our tournament in Florida being cancelled as well.”
The NCAA hasn’t made any decisions on winter or spring sports yet, but most athletes and institutions could be expecting a decision within the next few weeks as we are coming closer to the Jan. 1 cutoff date.
Hopefully Eastman’s wishful thinking will become a reality for her and other athletes both at Fredonia and nationwide.