TC3 postpones fall sports to spring, provides hope 

On July 8, the Ivy League became the first conference to cancel all athletics for the remainder of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and added that the affected sports will be considered for a spring season. Tompkins Cortland Community College and the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) followed suit six days later, but instead of postponing fall sports indefinitely, the organization announced that fall and winter sports will take place entirely in the 2021 portion of the academic year.

The most recent college sports cancellations from the Big 10 and Pac-12 conferences from just over a week ago stated that holding fall sports in the spring would only be considered. This is the same language that the Ivy League used as previously mentioned and Ithaca College’s Liberty League followed the same line of thinking.

Granted, TC3 has just two impacted sports in the fall, soccer and volleyball (cross country will still take place as scheduled) and will not be as much of a logistical challenge to hold those sports in the spring in comparison to NCAA conferences. However, simply declaring that fall sports athletes will not be held in limbo and will play this academic year makes a difference.

TC3 Athletic Director Mick McDaniel was front and center in the decision-making process as he also serves as the board chairman of the NJCAA. His goal when making the outright decision to pick up fall sports later in the year was to provide certainty in uncertain times.

“For every level of sports, to cancel programs just broke everyone’s hearts,” McDaniel said. “It’s been our goal ever since then to provide as many opportunities as we can to give the chances to play. Instead of having schools declaring that they were canceling, which was already happening since really April, even in our region of New York, we decided to set a plan that would add a little bit stability.”

The fact that even the most recent fall sports cancellations don’t provide that stability indicates how uniquely positive TC3 and the NJCAA’s decision was. There were several hoops that had to be jumped through, and the process to make this a logistical possibility at the over 500 NJCAA schools nationwide lasted two to three weeks before the official announcement.

Given the smaller resources of junior colleges, McDaniel believes it was a possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic could have canceled sports for the entire academic year.

“Schools are really looking for that top-down decision-making,” McDaniel said. “I think it really did save an awful lot of programs from just folding all together for the entire year because at least now we have provided hope. At TC3, we really have strong support to do whatever we can to teach our students and to have the seasons. That seems to be a really strong theme through the NJCAA.”

McDaniel described the approach he used as all-or-nothing, which forced the board to make a comprehensive plan moving forward. He also added that the condition of the facilities of TC3, including the multi-purpose turf field, made it even more possible to execute the plan.

There will be protocols to follow come the spring, of course, and McDaniel detailed how that part of the plan is still evolving.

“During this fall semester, it’s really going to be an opportunity for us to learn what our students are comfortable with, what our protocols are going to mean as far as what our coaches have to adjust to with smaller sizes in team building,” McDaniel said. “What we’ve learned since March is the number of opportunities we can have to meet virtually and not sit in a locker room and talk for an extra half an hour and things like that. By the time we do get to our competitive seasons in the spring, we’ll have a really good understanding of what we need to do and the students will understand that.”

McDaniel added that there will be an emphasis on virtual team meetings to minimize close contact. TC3 will also be working with Cayuga Medical Center to hold intake COVID-19 tests at the beginning of both semesters. A daily check-in system is also in development for the school.

Hope was the main message sent by TC3 and the NJCAA with this decision, and now, McDaniel will look to make the academic year as beneficial as possible for student-athletes.

“I’ve seen so many families just enjoy every bit of what we provide as far as athletics and a campus environment,” McDaniel said. “Knowing that they’ve lost those chances and those months has been the hardest thing, and I think that’s why we’re working so hard to make sure we can provide at least the chance and have a little bit of sunshine there. … The people that love TC3 and love the two-year college experience, that’s what they expect of us. That’s what we’re going to provide.”

A schedule has not been publicly announced yet by TC3, but at the end of the day, announcing that there will be a season provides a lot of peace of mind to fall athletes rather than the uncertainty others are experiencing.