The NBA suspended its season on March 12, the NHL has adjourned its season and the MLB has postponed games indefinitely. Even the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games have been moved to July of 2021. Professional sports nationwide have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and sports at the college level are no exception to restrictions placed on social gatherings.

To “protect the health and safety of college athletes,” the NCAA announced that all remaining winter and spring events, including the men’s and women’s ‘March Madness’ basketball tournaments, would be canceled. On March 18, The Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) decided to immediately cancel all spring sports competitions.

NWAC released a statement on March 18 stating, “It is our desire to do our part to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the interest of the health and well-being of our student-athletes, school personnel, and our fans. We have student-athletes who are having to make significant decisions in a short and crowded time space.”

The Trojans’ baseball team went 4-2 for their first six games of the season, while the remaining 31 games were canceled. All 32 games scheduled for the Lady Trojans’ spring 2020 softball season have been removed from their schedule. For the men and women’s track and field teams, eight meets were canceled. Washington’s social distancing measures have put entire sports seasons on hold, abruptly putting halt on the careers of many student athletes.

“I think overall the athletes at EvCC have done a tremendous job coping with all of this and have found ways to train on their own in preparation for next season whether that be here at Everett or elsewhere” says EvCC’s Athletic Director Garet Studer. “Spring sport athletes were not charged with a year of athletic eligibility, so some will have a difficult decision to make choosing to stay and play for 1-2 more years or transfer if they have satisfied all other academic requirements.”

For community college players who hope to be recruited or scouted by universities, these measures hinder their chances of being seen in action during the season. One of the most common ways for universities to discover prospects is to have a scout attend games and judge athletes on their abilities. Without current sporting events, scouts will have a much harder time finding new talented individuals to recruit.

“Recruiting has definitely been impacted. Campus visits are not able to take place as they once were, which was often a major selling point, especially in the spring when all the flowers are in bloom. Our grounds crew do such a marvelous job with making our campus look and feel like a welcoming place,” Studer said.

“Despite the challenges, I think our coaches have done a wonderful job being creative and meeting with students and their families virtually, showing them pictures and videos of campus and our athletic facilities.” said Studer.

Just as teachers have been using it for online classes, many coaches have utilized Zoom to set up calls between current student athletes and potential recruits. Since in-person social contact is extremely limited, video conferences and phone calls are encouraged by the NWCA for athletes and coaches to stay in touch. Studer said that this allows for the future prospects to ask any questions they may have as well as get a feel for what life is like for an EvCC student athlete.

For more information regarding the cancelation of spring sports in the northwest region as result of COVID-19, visit https://www.nwacsports.org.