UWF Football, Other Fall Sports Postponed Until At Least January Due To Pandemic

August 12, 2020

The Gulf South Conference is postponing fall sports — including football, basketball, soccer and volleyball — until at least January 2021.

These sports are identified as high contact risk sports by the NCAA and are subject to significant testing requirements for all student-athletes and “inner bubble” personnel.

For the University of West Florida, it means the Argos will remain the reigning national champions a longer before facing an opponent.

“As a team we are disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to play in front of our great fans at Blue Wahoos Stadium and defend our national championship this season,” said UWF Head Football Coach Pete Shinnick. “As we move forward we look forward to having an opportunity to compete this spring. And as a program, we plan to continue to seek Arete daily.”

In the sports of football, soccer and volleyball, the conference will evaluate options for spring competition that provide meaningful competition for these student-athletes. A spring season may not feature the use of traditional formats for regular season play or tournaments.

“When some organizations see these kinds of events as setbacks, we will look at this time as a great opportunity,” said UWF Head Women’s Soccer Coach Joe Bartlinkski.

In basketball, the GSC will work over the next several weeks to outline a calendar for this year’s basketball schedule and tournament. Further, the conference will work through the NCAA governance process to advocate for additional weeks of competition in the spring semester.

“Postponing the start of basketball season is the right decision to be made at this time,” remaked Stephanie Lawrence Yelton, UWF’s head women’s basketball coach. Pushing the start of the season to January gives us a bit more time to train our athletes in a healthy and safe manner before competition. We look forward to our athletes arriving on campus later this month after not seeing them for six months since the COVID-19 outbreak.”

“We are very disappointed for our players but we understand these are challenging times. We will use the fall semester to improve individual skills and to work hard on academics. We look forward to playing games in January and look forward to things getting back to normal,” Jeff Burkhamer, UWF men’s basketball coach added.

Cross Country and Golf competition will be permitted during the fall semester with the GSC Cross Country Championship date potentially moved to better accommodate the calendar. Designated as low contact risk and medium contact risk, these sports feature more manageable testing and monitoring requirements per NCAA medical guidance as well as limited competition opportunities.

All practice, strength and conditioning, team meetings, and other countable athletic related activities will be subject to NCAA rules, NCAA health and safety requirements, and institutional discretion.

Photos Morgan Givens/ UWF Athletics for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “UWF Football, Other Fall Sports Postponed Until At Least January Due To Pandemic”

  1. tc on August 13th, 2020 9:58 am

    They should post-pone all the over-paid cry babies in NFL, MLB, NBA & let the College teams play!

  2. BRING IT ON on August 12th, 2020 6:55 pm

    NFL, College ball, NASCAR, NBA, Baseball have totally ruined themselves, its not due to COVID it’s due to putting politics where it don’t belong. Its not even worth watching. Good luck and hopefully good riddance.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports