BUFFALO, N.Y. — For students who were excited to go to college and play a sport they loved, the coronavirus pandemic put their passions on pause.
However, both Erie County Community College and Niagara County Community College have announced plans to resume some sports in the spring.
“Going off the success we have seen with mitigating risk during the fall semester, we feel as if we can move forward in providing a safe and worthwhile opportunity for our student-athletes,” said NCCC Director of Athletics Amanda Haseley.
Both ECC and NCCC have said sports will begin resuming in February of 2021 and that they are following guidelines put in place by the government. Each school's plans for when sports return differ slightly.
At NCCC, sports resuming in February including the indoor sports of men’s and women’s basketball, women’s volleyball and wrestling. Sports on track to resume competition in March include baseball, golf and softball. Additionally, the fall sports of men’s and women’s soccer will return in March.
At ECC, sports resuming in February including basketball, swimming and diving, bowling, women's volleyball, baseball, softball and women's lacrosse. They'll begin practicing and will then resume competing a few weeks after.
Men's and women's soccer at ECC, like NCCC, will resume in March. They'll begin competing in April.
The football team will practice in the spring, but won't play any games. Cheerleading and ice hockey, which aren't NJCAA sponsored sports, can practice again in February, but won't be able to compete until the state provides guidance.
"The ability to compete in intercollegiate athletics is vital to the success of so many of our student-athletes," said ECC Director of Athletics Steve Mullen.
"There is very little that is normal right now but the recently released state guidelines for intercollegiate athletics provide us a footprint to compete. The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff continue to be our priority," added Mullen.