NWAC announces postponement of most fall sports
MOSES LAKE — DeVries Activity Center on the campus of Big Bend Community College won’t be hosting sports in the fall.
The Northwest Athletic Conference released return-to-play guidelines last week, relaying information that the governing body’s executive board had approved a plan to move the majority of fall sports to winter and spring quarters.
According to a press release, the NWAC office and NWAC Sports Medicine Committee partnered to develop a thorough plan of health and safety protocol recommendations for member colleges to implement for practice, competition and championship events. The full guidelines and health and safety protocols can be found at www.nwacsports.com/COVID19 and www.nwacsports.com/SportsMedicine.
“We have been thoughtful, comprehensive, flexible, and listened to our constituents,” NWAC Executive Director Marco Azurdia said in the release. “It is time to move forward. The plan pushed the conversations with our member college administrators, thus leading to the executive board’s decision. We have said from the beginning that flexibility, creativity, adaptability and patience are essential to the success of our return to play. NWAC will continue to follow the guidance and direction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local and state health agencies and member college presidents. Should conditions dictate a change from these guidelines, we have contingencies in place that will help us address NWAC sports. As additional information becomes available we will look to update our plans and strategies.”
Men’s and women’s cross country and men’s and women’s golf will commence in the fall on a reduced and modified schedule; Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake doesn’t offer those programs. The other NWAC sports will begin in winter and spring quarters of 2021 with reduced schedules, the release stated.
Big Bend’s only fall sport is volleyball, which is now scheduled to begin in late February. Men’s and women’s basketball are scheduled to start in mid-January, with baseball and softball following in mid-February.
The move affects local athletes like Warden grads Aubree Skone and Bailey Whitney who are heading into their sophomore soccer seasons with Walla Walla Community College and Columbia Basin College, respectively.