‘Heartbreaking’: Shutdown pains athletic department as much as athletes

After the March 2020 shutdown, the Chapman athletic department faced the tough task of letting down athletes. Now, they’re meticulously working back to competition. Photo courtesy of Steven Olveda

Imagine having to be the one to tell a room full of senior athletes they’d unknowingly played their last game in a Chapman University uniform. 

That reality is likely one that athletic director Doug Aiken never wants to relive again, still plagued by athletics’ shutdown that fateful March 13, nearly a year ago now. 

“(Director of Athletics Terry Boesel) and I met in person with several of those teams to break the news to them,” Aiken said. “To see the tears in the eyes of our athletes, it was emotional for (Boesel) and I as well. Easily the toughest day I’ve ever had in my professional career. It was heartbreaking.”

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the scope of the disease was unclear. For Boesel, the suspension of competition seemed to be a momentary pause with a planned resumption in the following fall semester — but he soon realized that wouldn’t come to fruition. 

“I never dreamed that we would be here back in the spring dealing with it,” Boesel said. “I thought that we were going to cancel the spring and we would be back to some time of normalcy to compete in the fall … It definitely outlasted me.”

Ever since that moment, Aiken, Boesel and others have been diligently working to put a plan in place to return, crafting a phased return to athletic activity directed by guidelines from the state of California, the county and the NCAA. It hasn’t been easy, as staff has undergone the mental strain of the pandemic — the same as athletes. 

“The rug was pulled out from under us,” Aiken said.

For Pam Gibbons, director of athletic training, the past year has been a whirlwind of meetings, discussions and constant questions being thrown her way as to when teams could return to play.

“People wanted to know what’s going on and how you’re making these decisions,” Gibbons said. “This last year has been really intense.” 

Nearly a year later, the athletic administration’s work is paying off, as the plan to return to competition is being implemented. Boesel called the return “an interplay” between the NCAA, state and county guidelines, a phased approach that will dictate different roles for each member of the athletic department.

Steven Olveda, Chapman’s sports information director, said his role has already changed drastically due to the lack of live events.  

“Who would have thought that my job, instead of taking stats and writing releases, (would be) to be to sit at the gate of Wilson Field or the (Zee Allred Aquatics Center) pool taking temperatures,” Olveda said. “I’m glad to do it, because that means our student athletes are coming back and having some semblance of a season.”

Yet this extended shutdown, despite the planned return, may not only have an effect on athletic department roles this year, but could have far-reaching implications up to five years in the future. Aiken said coaches must simultaneously prepare for this season as well as look down the road. 

“(Our coaches) are still recruiting this year for the fall, not knowing what they have on their roster,” Aiken said. “The eligibility standpoint is going to be interesting and challenging for the next four or five years.”