By Kiyomi Kishaba
Opinion Editor
Due to COVID-19, all NCAA Northwest Conference competition has been suspended until January 2021. However, the conference permits colleges to make their own decisions regarding non conference competition and practice schedules, as long as athletes abide by local and state health guidelines.
In the Athletics Town Hall held on August 26, President Allan Belton, Vice President Joanna Royce-Davis, Athletic Director Jen Thomas, and Football Coach Brant McAdams spoke regarding rules for holding practices, consequences for athletes not following health guidelines, and the PLUS year offering students a year of free classes.
Jared Toschi, a senior looking forward to his last season on the swim team, attended the town hall hoping for concrete answers regarding the PLUS year, but was slightly disappointed.
“There was plenty still left in the dark,” Toschi said. “They still didn’t really address the fine print of the PLUS year which they definitely need to do since it leaves many students wondering if the PLUS year is actually worth it, or just a PR stunt by the university to save face.”
Despite this lack of information, Toschi does believe the university is doing its best to ensure the safety of the students. However, he feels the town hall placed a lot of pressure on student athletes to act as leaders throughout this semester; perhaps an unrealistic expectation for first year athletes getting their first taste of college during a pandemic.
“It definitely makes the situation difficult with so much information not available and so much trust being forced on to new students who are coming into this situation blind,” Toschi said.
For fall sports such as soccer and cross country, pre-season training has already begun. Except this year, athletes are throwing on masks along with their cleats and sneakers.
Vivian Shinall, a junior soccer player, has been enjoying training on campus since mid-August.
“I don’t feel like we’ve lost any team connection, and it’s been super rewarding to get back to work on the field with our whole squad,” Shinall said. “I think everyone has been more than ready to get back to work after being cooped up for so long.”
The preseason looks a little bit different with mask-wearing, routine temperature checks, and multiple practices to maintain social distancing and limit the number of athletes on the field.
Shinall verbalized the hopes of her team and the PLU administration saying, “we’re looking forward to a safe, healthy and productive fall practice season.”
