With the coronavirus pandemic still lingering, a number of fall college sports have been given the boot until the spring semester. The USA South conference recently pushed back the start of the basketball season until the beginning of the spring semester; the conference also postponed conference play for fall sports until the spring semester. With the growing number of delays, it is difficult to see how schools, such as Piedmont, will manage the many sports that will be sharing the same field in the spring season.

As of now, spring season sports are scheduled to begin normally; however, the challenge that Piedmont will have is making sure that there are no scheduling issues or conflicting game times between teams and sports. 

There is an ongoing concern for conflict in the Mize Athletic Center, with volleyball, and men’s and women’s basketball sharing the same court, as well as men’s and women’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s soccer sharing the same field. 

“It will be a challenge, but from the president down, we are all committed to finding a way for all student athletes to have the best quality experience that we can provide,” said Athletic Director Jim Peeples. 

Yet another pressing issue that will have to be discussed are the complications surrounding other schools in the conference. The decisions made regarding their own student athletes could be different than the way Piedmont is supervising their student athletes. 

“There are some schools that are trying to pigeon hole fall sports into certain sections of the spring. My personal thoughts are that we should use the entire spring so that we have many different dates to work with for all sports,” said Peeples. 

As the USA South conference works to develop a plan for all sports to compete, there is speculation from different athletes that they may not even be able to compete in the spring.

“At this point, with the way things are moving along, I don’t really know if we will even have a season at all,” said senior men’s basketball player, Mikey Joseph. “I believe we could have started on time, but we will see what decisions are made after this semester is over.” 

Peeples has said “…[That there is] honestly not much of a plan at the moment for scheduling all of these sports in the spring.” 

With many different schools on diverse timetables, as well as juggling peculiar concerns, the spring athletic season could be something we have never seen before. The question that remains will be if the season turns out successful, or erupts into flames–only time will tell. With the proper protocols and scheduling in place, Piedmont College is hoping to give every student athlete a chance to compete for the 2020-2021 school year.