The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) announced on Thursday that its Board of Directors had approved its Contingency Plan for fall sports, pushing all sports, including football, to the Spring of 2021. This directly impacts the athletic programs at Long Beach City College, which will not be able to begin official practices until January 18, 2021.
“I know I speak for the entire CCCAA Board that moving Fall athletics to Spring 2021 is a huge disappointment,” said Board Chair and President of Pasadena City College, Dr. Erika Endrijonas, in a statement. “However, the need to keep our student-athletes and the amazing coaches and athletic trainers who work with them safe was simply the only option available with the virus spiraling out of control across the state.”
The Contingency Plan was one of three plans adopted by the CCCAA Board of Directors back in early June, and was the most restrictive of the plans laid out and unanimously approved at the time. Thursday’s approval of the plan also included a modification that moved men’s and women’s cross country, and women’s golf back to the spring. Those three sports were slated to start in the fall during the original plan.
Junior college sports will now be broken up into “Early Spring” sports, beginning practices on January 18, 2021, and “Late Spring” sports, which are set to begin practicing on March 27, 2021. The majority of the Early Spring sports–including basketball, soccer, women’s volleyball and others–will start competition on February 5, 2021, while football’s competition start date will be on February 13. All sports will be permitted to play just 70 percent of their usual allotment of games during the 2020-21 season, meaning there will be a maximum of seven football games played per team, rather than 10.
Late Spring sports–including baseball, tennis, track, men’s volleyball and others–will begin playing official contests on April 10.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staffs are our top priorities,” added Interim Executive Director Jennifer Cardone in the CCCAA’s statement. “While the Contingency Plan has the most drastic changes, it’s also the one that provides us the best opportunity to return to competition.”
CLICK HERE to read the full CCCAA release, including an outline of the Contingency Plan
