By: 1808Delawaare, North Coast Athletic Conference
It’s going to look and feel a bit different for college sports this fall for Ohio Wesleyan University athletic teams, and likely different between OWU and other North Coast Athletic Conference schools.
Facing the challenges of a pandemic that continues to impact almost all areas of collegiate life, a NCAC steering committee created, and NCAC President’s Council adopted, a set of principles to guide all fall intercollegiate competition. Those include:
- NCAC members will commit to consistent baseline health & safety protocols, as determined by public health professionals and institutional medical professionals;
- NCAC members will commit to follow the NCAC adopted phased-in approach to athletic participation and gatherings, or the local, state or federal guidance, whichever is more restrictive.
- NCAC members will play conference-only schedules, based on geographical groupings that eliminate overnight travel;
- NCAC members will adopt Friday, Sept. 18 as the first permissible contest date;
- NCAC members recognize and respect the institutional autonomy to make more restrictive decisions on competition for their respective campuses. Each campus is developing its own reopening plan; and,
- NCAC members recognize that our plans are fluid and subject to change as conditions evolve in order to responsibly protect our communities. Decisions for the winter and spring championships seasons will be made in early fall.
As noted above, campuses may have differing reopening plans, and those plans take priority over competitions. The Division III Conference is comprised of schools in three states — Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — which also may have differing health and safety protocols.
OWU is a charter member of the NCAC, which was established in 1983.
