The Appalachian Athletic Conference announced that it will hold conference-only fall sports events and said that it is delaying competition for the sports of men’s and women’s cross country, volleyball, and men’s and women’s soccer to Sept. 15.
The conference further said that it will remain flexible in its schedule to maintain “the safety and well-being of our students and staff” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want to get our students on campus and settled into the ‘new routine’ before allowing athletic competition. Delaying competition until Sept. 15 gives us that ‘breathing room’ to establish new habits to ensure that we do not have an outbreak of COVID-19,” said conference commissioner John Sullivan in a statement. “From that point on we can complete our conference-only schedule and still finish before Thanksgiving.”
Sullivan said moving soccer and volleyball to the spring isn’t viable as it would tax sports facilities and overwhelm athletic training and sports information staff. A move would also disrupt academic schedules as holding games every day “is clearly undesirable.”
