Spring Hill’s athletic teams are making strides toward resuming competition in January, said Athletic Director Joe Niland.
Starting this week, student athletes are able to start practicing as a team- pending individual athlete’s Coronavirus test results.
All the equipment must be sanitized before and after practice, temperatures must be checked, and hand sanitizer is available.
When asked about when each SHC team might expect to have their first games he said, “Not until January, the conference has suspended sports until then.”
Niland says that the athletic department is “hoping to start then. Men’s and women’s basketball will happen first, but the schedules have not been finalized yet.” With the ongoing pandemic, it is hard to finalize the sports schedules because there is so much unknown going on and things can change very quickly.
Spring Hill will participate in sports when they are given the opportunity to play. Because so many sports teams will be playing, it will be a very busy semester for badger athletes.
Niland was asked about how SHC will manage to have so many athletic seasons overlapping with one another and he stated, “As a conference we will look at how it impacts schedules, and try to make it so we aren’t hosting a lot of games at one time.”
Niland says, “The NCAA has cut back and is not having as many games, so it is going to be challenging but we will work it out so we can compete.”
The athletic department has faced many challenges from COVID during this athletic year. Joe Niland said, “everything has been a challenge during all of this, a constant changing of information. Things are done differently in each state and the NCAA keeps coming out with plans, but they are always changing.”
COVID testing is required of all athletes to prioritize their personal safety and the safety of their coaches and teammates. “The biggest thing is testing requirements and the cost of the testing, and making sure that we are in compliance with all of the requirements. We want to practice but can’t go around the NCAA and the public guidelines.”
For more information about badger athletics please visit the website http://www.shcbadgers.com.