Wait and see

AUS officials planning for games this fall as usual, but know that could change in a time full of uncertainties

The organization governing university sport in Atlantic Canada is in a holding pattern.

Atlantic University Sport (AUS) executive director Phil Currie said it is in a waitand-see situation as it tries to determine what impact the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic has on its 2020-21 season.

“And for all the right reasons. It’s a serious situation we find ourselves in and we have to be patient like everybody else,” he said.

“At this point, our hope is to continue with sport in September,” he added. “But there are powers at play that may prevent that. We just don’t know at this point. It’s a little too early for us to kind of make any decisions around what’s going to happen until we know more.”

The AUS football season is set to begin Aug. 29 while soccer is slated to start Sept. 11 with cross country hitting the trails Sept. 19.

There are many factors to consider with health and safety being paramount.

But it also includes interprovincial travel, airfare with Memorial flying to all its away games and the ability of international students to get to the universities.

With so much uncertainty, Currie wasn’t going to speculate about possible scenarios until the conference had more information and made decisions. He said there are regular Zoom meetings with athletic directors at the various AUS member universities, and officials are in contact with their peers across the country. The AUS is also getting information from health officials in each province.

“We’re all working together to do the best thing we can for our student-athletes in light of COVID-19,” he said.

A lot of the discussion right now among the athletic directors in the AUS is about setting principles that will help the members make a decision when it has enough information. Those principles might become clearer during the annual general meeting, May 19-21.

Most of the conference’s teams are in the four Atlantic provinces except football, which includes Bishop’s in Sherbrooke, Que.

There are also men’s university volleyball teams at Dalhousie and UNB which play in the Quebec conference.

Recruiting continues to happen across the conference, but there is a moratorium on all in-person recruiting across the country. Currie said, based on the announcements member institutions are making on social media, he doesn’t see an impact on recruiting compared to other years.

“At this point, our hope is to continue with sport in September. But there are powers at play that may prevent that. We just don’t know at this point. It’s a little too early for us to kind of make any decisions around what’s going to happen until we know more.”

Phil Currie