College and high school sports are in a state of turmoil, uncertainty and outright cancelation as concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus crystalize.
After the NBA put its season on hold Wednesday night, it was only a matter of time before other major sports leagues followed suit, from the NHL to MLS to the NCAA, which canceled all Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournament games Thursday afternoon along with all other winter and spring championships.
The NE-10 Conference, which includes Franklin Pierce University, had originally suspended all athletic competition until April 13, “in light of the collective decisions of the majority of NE10 members to have students return home indefinitely and continue their academic work remotely due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19.”
Thursday’s announcement ended the winter season prematurely for Paola Brena and Hugo Arlabosse of the FPU track and field team, on their way to Birmingham, Alabama for the Division III championships this weekend.
Franklin Pierce freshman pitcher Madison Labrie of New Ipswich and her Raven teammates landed in Florida Wednesday and were set to take the field Friday to continue their season after starting out 10-1 on the year before head coach Andy Klaus delivered the news – not only is their upcoming season essentially canceled, but many of the student-athletes must move out of campus housing, return home or elsewhere, and take classes online until at least April 6.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Labrie said. “Everything is very chaotic right now….We have worked very hard for so long for this season and it feels like that hard work is possibly for nothing.”
Labrie and her teammates are hoping to receive a waiver from the NCAA for another year of eligibility if this entire season is lost.
Smith College freshman Lexi Balam of Lyndeborough and her softball teammates were also preparing to head down to Florida for a week of games when they got the bad news at practice.
“That was a rough time,” Balam said. “We felt it more toward the seniors, not just because they’d be robbed of this last year but because in a few days they would be gone.”
Unlike FPU, Smith sent their students home indefinitely, with no return date. Balam said the Smith community got together Thursday night to hold a “commencement” ceremony for the senior class, who are now unlikely to have an official graduation ceremony of their own.
Balam’s entire college experience is on hold; Monday, she’ll return home to Lyndeborough and use New Hampshire’s spotty rural internet to take the rest of her courseload online.
“The seniors are leaving, half of my friends are going across the country – it’s like the whole experience is coming to a halt,” Balam said. “It’s just so drastically different. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it…education-wise, it’s going to cause a challenge.”
The NHIAA announced Friday that all tournament competition is suspended until further notice. Locally, that means the Mascenic boys’ basketball championship game against Gilford – the Vikings’ first shot at a Division III championship in 20 years – the ConVal boys’ basketball home quarterfinal game, and the Mascenic and Conant cheerleading teams’ winter spirit championships are in a state of limbo.
On Thursday, the NHIAA had announced it would allow the remainder of the tournaments to be played out with limited spectator access.
“During these difficult times, the NHIAA is committed to allowing teams to finish out their seasons,” NHIAA Executive Director Jeffrey Collins stated in a press release Thursday. “Our students have worked very hard and we owe this to them.”
But Friday’s announcement leaves teams, players, coaches and fans unsure of when – or if – they’ll get to finish their seasons and compete for the championships they’ve dedicated so much time and effort to.
“Disappointed is an understatement,” said Mascenic spirit coach Amy Billings Friday morning. “When you work so hard on a routine for five months and you can’t go show it off, really leaves everyone speechless.”
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