Pictured above: the Mount Holyoke Basketball team ‘19-’20. Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Athletics Department.
By Casey Roepke ’21
News Editor
The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Presidents Council recently released their decision regarding winter sport competition for the 2020-2021 season. The decision to suspend championships and all conference play was made in a unanimous vote by the presidents of all 11 NEWMAC colleges, including Mount Holyoke and fellow Seven Sisters schools Smith and Wellesley.
According to the NEWMAC Presidents Council’s statement on winter sports, this decision was a direct result of COVID-19-related scheduling and travel restrictions.
“Due to the shift in academic calendars, specifically the later start than normal of the second term and the majority of institutions imposing restrictions of both visitors on campus and travel off campus in an effort to reduce the potential spread and exposure of COVID-19, the Presidents have unanimously decided to suspend conference play and championships for winter sports,” the statement read.
Mount Holyoke student-athletes were alerted of the decision by an email from Director of Athletics Lori Hendricks ’92. According to Hendricks, the decision to lose another competitive season was “not unexpected, but still a disappointment.”
This decision directly impacts Mount Holyoke’s basketball and swimming and diving teams. Mount Holyoke Swimming and Diving Head Coach Dave Allen said that the decision matched his expectations.
“The swimming and diving coaches forwarded a proposal to move the [championship] meet to the end of March or April in the hopes of rescheduling the meet,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, there are so many factors and unknowns with COVID[-19], as well as the logistics to scheduling our meet, [that] it would be a real challenge to reschedule the meet.”
“I definitely had been anticipating that for a while,” Swimming and Diving co-Captain Naomi Brown ’21 said. “Especially with cases rising around the country it just doesn’t seem to be realistic to have sports competitions right now.”
She added that Allen had been preparing the team for the possibility of the suspension of the winter season. “The team was definitely bummed about the news, but Dave has been preparing us for all of the possibilities for a while,” Brown said. “So it wasn’t necessarily a shock.”
“I personally expected this,” Riley Hicks ’21, another one of the swimming and diving team’s co-captains, said. “Many of my teammates even assumed it was canceled before it was actually announced. Obviously, we are all very upset about this, but I had the mindset it would be canceled for the last few months so it is not shocking news.”
Winter sports like swimming and diving rely on the extended fall and winter seasons to train in anticipation of NEWMAC championships, so Brown had come to terms with a disrupted senior season. “We already knew the season would be kind of wacky with not being able to be on campus,” she said. “I definitely miss being around my teammates, but I’m thankful for the time we spend together remotely on Zoom, and we’ve been using this time to grow as a team.”
“We all wish we could be on campus in person, but are trying to make the best of this situation,” Hicks said. “This fall has been very difficult with a lot of new adjustments, but my team and I are hoping to be back in the spring and…able to practice and maybe have some virtual meets.”
“The team is disappointed and at the same time understands the decision,” Allen said. “At this point, we are hoping to be together on the pool deck in the spring. Practicing in person as a team will be a moral[e] boost compared to our current virtual practices.”
While specific teams within the College have independent freedom to hold practices and outside competitions in accordance with NCAA regulations for Division III teams and Mount Holyoke’s own health and safety measures, this decision coincides with the College’s remote fall term, which likely means winter sports will not have any in-person components.
“The cancellation of athletics in the spring all together might make me not want to return at all if that is an option,” Hicks said. “I have talked to many other teammates and other athletes and many have also said that athletics is a major factor in them returning this spring.”
The College will release further information about the spring 2021 term for student-athletes. The NEWMAC Presidents Council has not yet released their decision regarding spring competition.