Football in the Big Ten Conference is back. The Southeastern Conference has begun play. For the first time in months, these and other National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I conferences are competing. Even athletes in some of the NCAA Division III conferences, and in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, have the opportunity to play this fall. But in the Great Midwest Atlantic Conference, athletes are frozen. We have been left without competition, forced to play ourselves over, and over, and over again.
Let us play.
March 12 was the first day athletes stood still. Seasons were cancelled, championship dreams crushed, and seniors were done with their careers too soon. Why? Because conference leaders decided it was too dangerous to continue with the season. The risk of passing COVID-19 to each other was high — a risk that couldn’t be taken.
Fair enough.
What isn’t fair, however, is canceling the season, waiting eight months, and then canceling it again. The conference appears to have made the decision without any attempt to find a way to allow play. Now, all around the country, other college athletic conferences are reversing the decision to cancel their games. The Big Ten, who once said they would not play football at all this fall, made a last-minute decision to play.
The Big Ten’s decision to reverse the ruling proves that maybe, just maybe, deciding so early against playing was a mistake. It was a decision made too soon. Could anyone really say in July what October would look like in terms of the virus?
No championship games will be played in the 2020-2021 season at Hillsdale or any of the other schools in the G-MAC. That is 14 championships lost at Hillsdale alone, taking the chance to win a conference, or even a national championship, from over 100 athletes.
To make matters worse, division II athletes have to sit and watch the rest of the country compete.
Sports are more than just exercise or a way to pay for college — they are a lifestyle, a stress reliever, and an escape. Canceling sports has lasting effects because it leaves athletes without an outlet that they have relied on for many years. College sports eventually come to an end, we know that. But it is easier to deal with that on your own terms, not on someone else’s.
Amid the pandemic and national unrest, everyone could use something to make them smile, and what does that better than college sports? Especially as ratings for professional leagues drop, college sports at all levels would be the center of attention. While professional sports have become political, college sports are nearly guaranteed to stick to the game.
Finally, the rivalries, the game day tailgate, and the adrenaline rush for athletes and fans alike is unmatched. If anything, college sports become a way to bring the country back to a “normal” state. We can’t go back to normal if only certain divisions and conferences can play.
Maybe the decision to suspend the season seemed like the right call at first, but as time goes on, the decision has more and more negative effects. So, for the good of the school, the country, and the athletes: Let us all play.
Reagan Gensiejewski is a junior outfielder on the women’s softball team studying rhetoric and public address.