Athletics

CCC delays start of fall sports

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The Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC)—the division of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in which Walla Walla University holds membership—announced on July 17 that it will delay the start of all fall conference sports for 2020. The CCC will look toward conducting delayed seasons for fall sports teams in winter or spring 2021.

The announcement affects WWU women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s soccer, and men’s and women’s golf. No decisions were made by the CCC at this time regarding delaying winter sports, which would include WWU men’s and women’s basketball teams.

The CCC has suspended intercollegiate competition for all CCC sports until at least Nov. 1 when the league will reevaluate circumstances. CCC committees comprised of coaches and administrators from throughout the league are working on proposed revised schedules and standard start dates for each sport to begin practices.

“The on-going issues with COVID-19 and the surge in cases, in particular in the geographical regions of our members schools, has made the prospect of properly conducting a fall season with the confidence we need to ensure the health and safety of our student-athletes during this pandemic unrealistic,” said Robert Cashell, CCC commissioner.

Each CCC member school will be allowed to make decisions about conducting team practices, conditioning activities, or other team activities in accordance with campus, local, state, and NAIA policies.

“We will have required training and practices for fall sports athletes during fall quarter,” said Paul Starkebaum, WWU interim athletic director. “Fall athletes do not need to plan on arriving early this quarter. Freshmen need to be on campus for JumpStart; returning student athletes need to be ready to attend class and training the first day of fall quarter. Coaches will provide updates to athletes on what training and practice will look like during fall quarter.”

Member schools in the CCC are located in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia, Canada.

Posted July 21, 2020

 

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