In March, members of Chapman’s athletic staff found themselves watching the last Panther sports game for the foreseeable future. After the cancellation of fall games, they’ve been working tirelessly to implement a plan for when teams can return to the field. 

Five months ago, Chapman Director of Athletics Terry Boesel leaned on a railing in the stands of Wilson Field. It should’ve been a normal Wednesday night – the last few tendrils of orange sunlight giving way to dusk, the scoreboard slowly counting down the minutes remaining in a women’s lacrosse game against Whittier College.

On March 11, the night sky and ticking clock represented not just the coming end of a regular-season game, it was the end of an entire season two months before it was scheduled to end. During halftime, with Boesel perched on the balcony above, Associate Director of Athletics Doug Aiken stood under the awning at Wilson Field and watched the honoring of seniors from every spring sport. 

Earlier that day, Boesel and Aiken had to tell each team their season was over, due to sudden administrative regulations brought on by the emergence of COVID-19. 

“I said it then and I still believe it – it was probably the toughest day as a professional I’ve ever had,” Aiken said. “Having to look the athletes square in the face and tell them that not just their seasons, but some of them their careers, were over.” 

It was a sad day, but life went on. Things would improve; restrictions would lift; games would be played. Right?

“I remember thinking, ‘We’ll be past all of this by then,’” Aiken said. “But it crept into your mind, like, ‘How long is this going to last?’” 

As cases continued to grow in April, it became clear that athletics would have to prepare a complex system to safely re-integrate sports as part of the campus-wide CU Safely Back Plan. As spring turned into summer and the number of COVID-19 cases only rose, they realized they needed to compose an alternative plan in the event that classes would again be moved online – which would eliminate the possibility of seasons for high-contact sports.

“At the time, on March 11, it didn’t even cross my mind that this would be going on in the fall,” Boesel said. “All the work you put in goes by the wayside and you start over; it’s like you tear up those plans and you start over again … and that’s frustrating.” 

On July 24, the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), which Chapman is a part of, released the statement that all-conference competition for high-risk sports – including soccer, water polo, volleyball and basketball – would be cancelled for the fall semester. On July 28, Boesel, Aiken, Sports Information Director Steven Olveda and Head Athletic Trainer Pam Gibbons spoke at a Town Hall meeting for student-athletes and their families over Microsoft Teams, giving them updates on the situation and answering their questions. Despite their efforts to stay positive, there was a noticeable pall in the room – the administrators spoke slowly, as if each word was being dragged down by an invisible weight. 

“It’s just gut-wrenching,” Aiken told The Panther. “We do everything that we do for the student-athletes, and we get so much satisfaction in watching them compete and grow.” 

He sighed. 

“We’re going to miss out on that a little bit,” he said. “That’s the fun part of the job.” 

Just a few days prior to March 11, The Panther spoke with Gibbons at a softball practice. At that time, she stressed the need for proper precautions, but ultimately compared COVID-19 to another strain of the flu. As risk continued to rise and the campus shut down, Gibbons found it difficult to cement any plans given the unknown factors associated with the virus. 

“It was so hard to get, and continues to be, accurate information in regard to what we’re dealing with, (the) best treatment protocols,” Gibbons said. “In retrospect, I’m frustrated; I’m angry that we’re in this situation. We just need to move forward.” 

For her, moving forward means staying in consistent communication with the training staff and coaches to make sure any remote workouts are done safely. For Boesel, it means working with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and other athletic directors in the SCIAC to develop schedules for fall sports to potentially hold shortened seasons in the spring. For Aiken, it means talking with individual players about exercising or not exercising their extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA. 

But for the foreseeable future, the trio’s last memory of a Chapman game will be that March 11 night. Watching the sky turn from orange to purple to black. Watching the scoreboard flash zeroes. Watching student-athletes trample the turf of Wilson Field, one final time. For now.