MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — Wednesday the announcement by the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference to suspend all fall sports till at least January 1st answered at least one near term question. But it left open many others.
One of which is what will the loss of athletics mean for the academics of athletes. The possibility of some athletes leaving school is not being overlooked at Shippensburg University according to Director Athletics Jeff Michaels.
"At our level sometimes you have a student who only goes to college to participate in sports. They end up with a degree because they do that along the way. Some are using their athletic experience to where they are going (in the future), they are going to lose a piece of that by not having the competition aspect."
Another question will be the health and safety of the athletes playing a "spring" season and then recovering in time for their scheduled fall 2021 season.
Millersville University Head Coach J.C. Morgan is prepared for that challenge.
"If we do play in the spring, we just have to move around that situation. If you are talking about a season that will conclude sometime during May and then training camp opens up in August. Unless there is a change in the fall schedule, we are going to have to maneuver through that and try to do the best we can to prepare our guys. And we will do a great job of keeping safety and putting them in a position to play at high level and minimize injuries."
Both Shippensburg and Millersville University say they are all in on making a season happen in the spring. The schools are hopeful that small workouts can be done throughout the fall.