Decision on winter university sport season coming this week

The future of second semester winter sports being played at universities in Atlantic Canada will be decided this week.

On Tuesday, university presidents from eleven schools will meet virtually to discuss recommendations put forward from the Atlantic University Sport return-to-play committee.

Winter sports include hockey, basketball, volleyball, swimming, curling and track and field.

"Hopefully we can come out of that with some sort of positive move forward," said AUS executive director Phil Currie.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, USports decided long ago there would be no national championship tournaments for the 2020-21 school calendar year.

AUS suspended all play for the first semester, meaning football, soccer, cross-country and rugby seasons were all wiped out.

While active COVID-19 cases in the Atlantic provinces are low compared to other parts of the country, the numbers have been on the rise in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Prince Edward Island's numbers remain low.

Mid-January return?

"When you see an increase in cases, then that's obviously a significant consideration," said Currie. "But what we're proposing is competition that wouldn't start until at least mid-January."

Teams have been permitted to train even though they haven't been approved yet to compete in games. They're hoping to get some good news this week.

"It seems like months that we've been kind of waiting and waiting," said Acadia men's basketball coach Kevin Duffie. "Things seem to be changing all the time and we're just happy that it's now time they're going to be making a decision."

Provincial governments in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador announced on Monday they are pulling out of the Atlantic bubble for two weeks and travel restrictions have been put in place.

The University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown and Memorial University in St. John's are among the eleven member schools that comprise Atlantic University Sport.

Several coaches of AUS teams declined comment for this story.

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