GPRC playing the NAIT Ooks in basketball. Photo Credit: EverythingGP Staff

By Shane Clausing

GPRC Wolves

ACAC CEO provides update on leagues fall season plan following U-Sports fall season cancelation

Jun 8, 2020 | 1:24 PM

On Monday, U-Sports and Canada West announced that its universities will not be playing school sports in the fall of 2020.

In a statement released on Monday, U-Sports says that the decision to cancel the fall season comes as a result of on-going uncertainties with student-athlete health and safety, travel and public health restrictions that affect parts of the country and different curriculum delivery models being proposed on the campus of its 56 member universities.

This announcement means that university sports such as football and soccer will not be played at all in 2020 and sports like hockey and basketball will hopefully be able to resume in the winter semester with a shortened schedule.

While U-Sports did cancel its fall season, people have been asking the same questions about what other college leagues like the ACAC (Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference) and its schools will do moving forward.

League CEO Mark Kozak says that they have not made any decisions on what to do with their fall sports calendar in 2020, and there is still lots of time before they have to decide on how to proceed.

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“We certainly pay attention to what Canada West and U-Sports are doing. We are two different organizations and we don’t necessarily always do things the exact same way. The ACAC is in the middle of a planning process and we haven’t ruled anything out, but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to immediately announce that we are going to forego the fall season.”

“If we can offer our fall sports in some manner, that’s the approach that we’re taking and we’re working through all the different factors that have to be considered. We think it’s a little premature to immediately announce that the fall season is out of the question.”

One of the advantages that the ACAC has that Canada West and U-Sports do not, is that all games in the ACAC take place within Alberta. Canada West teams that play in U-Sports have to play games throughout the year against schools from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

Kozak noted that the biggest thing that has to happen in order for them to have a fall season has to do with the province and their re-opening plan. There is hope that by September, sports will be allowed to resume in the province.

“Obviously, there are some changes in the way that education is going to be delivered this fall and we understand that athletics goes hand in hand with that,” said Kozak. “If our senior administrators are supportive and believe there’s some value to having athletics offered this fall then that certainly helps our cause.”

A fall season is key for student-athletes that attend Grande Prairie Regional College as the school has both a men’s and women’s soccer team and a cross-country team.

Kozak says that if there is a cancelation of a fall season, he expects that the schools will honour scholarships for students, but each school has to make its own decision in regards to that.

Kozak adds that the ACAC will be holding be a special general meeting held on June 25, where the ACAC intends to present options for schedules, formats, and a start date and have its members vote on it.

There is also an opportunity for some schools to bow out of a sport for the season if they feel that they cannot deliver it in 2020-2021.

“We know that coaches and athletes want to know the plans for 2020-2021 as soon as possible because people’s lives are in the balance. They want to know whether they should return to their institution or want to pursue their sport. We hope that they are attending for their educational purposes primarily, but we know that sport will influence some student’s decisions, so we want to have that information out and circulating as soon as possible, and June 25 is that date.”

If the fall season is canceled, Kozak said that he and the rest of the ACAC schools are confident that sports like basketball and hockey could be completed within the winter semester. However, as of now, they are still focused on the fall season going ahead.