By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN a decision that will affect several Bahamian student athletes, both NCAA Division II and Division III have cancelled their 2020 Fall championships.

The Presidents Council for each division made official announcements based on challenges stemming from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NCAA fall sports include men’s and women’s soccer, football, field hockey and women’s volleyball.

“After reviewing and discussing the Board of Governors’ directives, the Division II Presidents Council made the difficult decision that holding fall championships in any capacity was not a viable or fiscally responsible option for Division II,” said Sandra Jordan, chancellor of South Carolina Aiken and chair of the council.

Division II will allow student athletes “to retain the use of a season of competition if their team completes 50 per cent or less of the sport’s Bylaw 17 maximum contests/dates of competition for the 2020-21 academic year. Additionally, student athletes who qualify for the season of competition waiver, or whose institutions cancel the sport season entirely, will receive an extension of their 10 semesters/15 quarters of eligibility, provided the student athlete was otherwise eligible for competition during the 2020-21 academic year.

The Division III Presidents Council reached the same decision due to “administrative and financial challenges.”

Tori Murden McClure, chair of the Presidents Council, said: “Looking at the health and safety challenges we face this fall during this unprecedented time, we had to make this tough decision to cancel championships for fall sports this academic year in the best interest of our student athletes and member institutions,” he said.

“Our Management Council reached the same conclusion. Moving forward, we will try to maximise the championships experience for our winter and spring sport student athletes, who unfortunately were short-changed last academic year.”