Every single sport that is being played from pro level to school level has been affected by the current pandemic. However, with many professional sports and some college sports starting back up, community college is a different story.
The guidelines and mandates of trying to start back up for community colleges is very different from what most people are used to seeing. Within southern California, community colleges are still in shutdown when it comes to their athletics and it may be a while before they see any activity. Dr. Timi Brown is the athletic director for Chaffey community college which along with many other community colleges are in shutdown due to the pandemic, she plays a pivotal role in making sure the athletic programs are safe and keeping important staff members in the loop. “Personally I was somebody that had to make a decision in terms of, in collaboration with our vice president at the time Dr. (Eric) Bishop and our dean Micheal McClellan, to decide what we were going to do with athletics.”
“It was awful, I felt awful to have to deliver the news to our coaches and student-athletes but they’re all professionals and they understood at the time but it was difficult conversations.” Dr. Brown clearly has empathy for these players and coaches at this school, but understands that safety is the main priority among all of this. “In terms of the impact on our student athletes, I think every student athlete has probably dealt a little bit different regardless of the team their on. But what I will say is that all of our coaches have done an amazing job, keeping our student athletes engaged, they continue to recruit hard for our rosters, I’m very proud of the way we’ve responded to this the entire time.” Despite having to bring up the unfortunate news to student athletes and coaches, she has shown that they are forging on and dealing with the situation the best they can with the help of their coaching staff and making sure the student athletes get the proper instruction and practice without having them actually playing.
With this kind of decision, it takes a collective effort and that is something that all community colleges are going through, with their own board members and staff to ultimately come to a decision. “Our governing body is in conversations with four year level as well as college presidents within our region, you know to try and make the best decisions possible, but also understanding that is is a major pandemic.” Being in contact with multiple schools and faculty members shows just how much community colleges care for their student athletes and their well being, as well as getting in the appropriate work they need to stay at a competitive level. This type of contact is also essential for the idea of a potential restart, which is something Dr.Brown has said there have been ongoing discussions.
“Originally, there was plans to try and get some competition in the fall semester. But our governing body, the California Community College Athletic Association, came out in July and actually made the decision to push back all sports to the Spring semester. The difficulty is that not every county is the same.” Dr.Brown is right in this statement, as every county has their own COVID-19 number of cases, and the numbers would need to go down in order for their to be any conversations of a restart. This would limit their travel and what colleges will be playing against each other.
There is no doubt that everyone has been impacted differently by the pandemic and community colleges are no exception. The athletic programs in community colleges are at the mercy of COVID-19 and how widespread it is, if they are to restart certain sports. Collaborative efforts are key in making these decisions as every community college in California is joined together by an association and discussion is constant between all groups. While they are hopeful for a restart in the Spring, it will be up to the state as a whole whether student athletes and staff can restart and pursue their dreams once again.