At the beginning of September, Chapman University and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) were unsure as to the fate of fall, winter and spring sports. However, as time has passed and students have been cleared to return to campus Oct. 19, updates on athletics have changed. One of such examples includes regular COVID-19 testing for athletes, which President Danielle Struppa announced via email Oct. 9.

Chapman Athletic Director Terry Boesel confirmed that teams may return to campus and practice as students begin to file into lecture halls.

“Small group activities, only outdoors and no weight room,” Boesel said. “You’re showing up and your coach will put you through some sort of beginning-level conditioning to try and get everyone back to playing shape.”

While many sports have not received preliminary schedules, aside from small group in-person practices, football may have a season in the spring.

“We’re looking at a five-game season for football,” said Jennifer Dubow, executive director of the SCIAC. “If you look at (each team’s) overall record one through eight, you can then balance the teams out in pods.”

Dubow is referring to creating select groups of teams within the conference based upon their success from the prior season. At the moment, the “pods” – groups of teams that will play regular season games against one another – will be set up based on skill in hopes to keep them as “balanced” as possible, Dubow said. This means Chapman could be placed with top programs in the SCIAC, as the Panthers won the conference last season. However, this raises questions about travel, as Chapman is the only school in the SCIAC that calls Orange County home.

“Chapman is unique in our conference because they’re allowed to have more students on campus,” Dubow said. “Most of our other schools are remote for the time being … Ultimately, it will come down to the institution if they want to travel.” 

Additionally, a shortened five-game season would still allow seniors, if they so choose, to come back and play in fall 2021. According to Dubow, if seniors sign the NCAA blanket waiver and play 50% or less of a normal season – in football’s case, a regular season being 10 games – then they will retain eligibility for a “fifth” year.

For football head coach Bob Owens and his staff, that means that they’ll likely be able to retain some of their strong senior class for an additional season.

“(Not having a senior season) would be like having a birthday with no party and no cake,” Owens said. “There’d be nothing to finalize their three years of work – but now they get an opportunity.”

As for other sports, while plans still aren’t completely ironed out yet, there is still some progress being made.

Sports Information Director Steven Olveda said there could be a potential problem of staff being stretched thin should fall and spring sports take place at the same time, but credited the SCIAC and the NCAA for addressing that problem.

“They’re trying to separate seasons so as to not overwhelm support staff and facility usage,” Olveda said. “There’s a lot of thought being put in so we can fit all sports into one season, so they’re still working on the specifics of that.”

Dubow said there are certain things schools can expect, however, when those seasons come around.

“The (amount of athletes traveling to) any institution on any given day (needs to be limited),” Dubow said. “We’re trying to limit games to the weekend, so Chapman wouldn’t have an opposing volleyball team come into their school on a Tuesday and host water polo on a Wednesday.”