The echoes of bouncing basketballs ring off the walls of CARSA Gymnasium. But only in practice sessions. The waiting game continues for University of Victoria athletes.
The Canada West conference announced Friday it will delay the decision on whether second-term conference competition will proceed in the New Year until no later than Nov. 2. The initial deadline for the decision was next Thursday.
The first-term Canada West fall sports had already been cancelled.
“We are learning more and more about [how to compete in sports amid the pandemic] so student-athletes asked us to keep our minds open,” said UVic athletic director Clint Hamilton, who is also president of Canada West.
“So we decided as a board to rethink our deadline and to give ourselves as much time as possible.”
Canada West asked for feedback from its student-athletes, following which the conference’s board of directors voted this week to delay the decision on second-term competition, allowing for further assessment “of the feasibility of conference play returning given the evolving COVID-19 environment.”
Realistically, it may just be delaying the inevitable.
“We are one of four conferences across the country,” Hamilton said.
All four would have to align and agree to conference play in order for U Sports national championships to be held in the winter-to-spring sports.
“Canada West encompasses four provinces, so it is also complex just within our own conference,” Hamilton said.
Student-athletes will not lose a year of eligibility if conference play is not held.
“I have been proud of our student-athletes through all of this. They have shown resilience,” said Hamilton, a former national champion in basketball as a player with the UVic Vikes.
Most coaches and student-athletes say the delay in making a decision is a last gasp worth taking, but seem resigned to the notion that a conference season will not happen for 2020-21.
“It looks like it will be a development year,” said UVic men’s basketball head coach Craig Beaucamp.
“Canada West would have to align with the other conferences, and we’ve seen upticks of COVID in Ontario and Quebec.
“It is difficult to envision a U Sports national championship being held. We could play [regional] exhibition games in a best-case scenario. We are pondering different concepts. But there are no plans right now.”
The situation could provide for a bit of a log jam next season, with fifth-year players retaining eligibility, and colliding with incoming freshman.
“It makes it harder to plan,” said Beaucamp.
“It will be a bottleneck with freshman players coming in at one end and [normally graduating 2020-21] players not leaving at the other end.”
But by then, hopefully, 2021-22 will at least be an otherwise normal season. After the pandemic-caused shambles of 2020-21, that is no small consolation.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
