Photo courtesy of Ottawa University Facebook
As of 1:00 p.m. Thursday, the NAIA and NCAA conferences suspended the rest of their athletes’ seasons until further notice and in some cases, indefinitely. Events were cut off, games have been postponed and many athletes had traveled extensively for nothing.
The Ottawa men’s basketball team had just completed the first game of the NAIA National Championships in South Dakota, the women’s wrestling team had journeyed to their National Championships in North Dakota and the men’s and women’s bowling teams had made it all the way to Oklahoma City (en route to Dallas) before being informed of the cancelation.
A statement from the NAIA reads, “Effective immediately, all remaining NAIA winter championship events will be canceled, including those that are currently underway. The health and safety of our student-athletes, as well as all involved in our championship events, is the NAIA’s highest priority. We will continue to monitor COVID-19 developments and NAIA leadership will work closely with our member institutions to determine the best path forward for future NAIA events, including all spring 2020 championships.”
For NCAA, March Madness has been canceled after the first games were played. A statement from NCAA reads, “President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the D-I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to the spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.”
Many post-secondary institutions, as several people have heard, have transitioned to online classes for the remainder of the semester, following the conclusion of spring break. Ottawa University has yet to make the jump, but students, faculty and parents will be alerted of any change made to the scheduling for the rest of the spring 2020 semester as soon as any information arises. Neighboring schools, like Baker University and the University of Kansas, have already transitioned into online courses.
Many other sports were affected by this as well. The softball team’s season has been canceled until further notice. They played possibly their last games Thursday, at home. Football’s spring practice season could be in jeopardy, too. In a message sent to the football players, The University has made a decision that they would not have the rest of the spring practices. There is no word yet on if the University would be switching over to online courses.
To keep up with information about the COVID-19 virus, check this link: Coronavirus disease 2019.
The Campus will stay on top of any and all news related to the adjustment of scheduling/classes, athletics and the potential spread of the virus.