Lycoming College 2020 President's Report/Magazine

Athletics gearing up for a busy spring As the week of March 9, 2020, approached, Lycoming College’s spring sports teams headed out to various spring break destinations — softball went to Myrtle Beach, S.C., men’s lacrosse headed for Virginia Beach, and women’s lacrosse was destined for Connecticut. By Wednesday, the NBA had suspended its season and by Friday, all sports had been postponed for nearly four months. The Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC), which had previously suspended its season for two weeks, held a vote of its presidents the following Monday to cancel the rest of the 2020 spring athletic season, affecting 78 student-athletes at Lycoming. It was the first time since World War II, when the College was still Dickinson Seminary and Junior College, that the athletic department stopped competing. As the summer progressed and a spike in cases in July hit the nation, the MAC presidents voted to suspend intercollegiate athletic competition during the fall semester, with the hopes of being able to complete schedules during spring 2021, affecting the football, basketball, wrestling, soccer, tennis, swimming, volleyball, tennis, and golf teams. In preparation for the busiest spring semester in the athletic department’s history, the more than 350 student-athletes on campus began to train with Strength & Conditioning Coach Joe Alexander in early September before taking their fields of play late in the month, with the focus of the team’s practices on fundamental development and skill improvement while complying with current NCAA and Pennsylvania recommendations to social distance and mask whenever possible. Administrators from the MAC, including Director of Athletics Mike Clark ’93 and his support staff at Lycoming, meanwhile, are still busy solidifying schedules and developing a plan to return student-athletes to competition safely. “We continually adapt to changing conditions in trying times, working with a variety of constituencies including the College itself, the MAC, the NCAA, the state of Pennsylvania, and the CDC to mention a few,” Clark said. “Being able to get the plan in action in September, getting our athletes back on the field, and getting to work with them throughout the fall is something we think will provide a lot of benefits as we get back to competition. As an athletic department, we are happy to have the support of the College’s administration, which understands and values the role that athletics plays in a quality liberal arts education.” Jeffrey Newman, Ph.D., professor of biology, along with Tara Wands ’23 and Matthew Dobrosky ’21, created a video, “The Science Behind the Mask,” in which they performed scientific experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of wearing face coverings, the use of hand sanitizers, and proper hand washing to help reduce the transmission of the virus. Why do you “mask up”? There are plenty of motivators to wear a mask. Share your reasons with us on Lycoming’s social media accounts using #LycoMaskUp. #LycoMaskUp www.lycoming.edu/return-to-campus . can be found at 15 www.lycoming.edu