NCAA Council - Voluntary Activity for Basketball & Football to Start from June 1

The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Council has lifted the moratorium on Voluntary Activity for Basketball & Football — which is to begin from the first day of June. This will allow voluntary athletic activities for men’s & women’s basketball & football. Sports-related activities were temporarily restricted in various states across the country amidst the coronavirus outbreak. From mid-May itself, the states across the country are looking in action to lift the shelter-in-place restrictions that came up as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The report mentions — every school can take decisions on their own discretion — in the best interest of basketball and football student-athletes. Voluntary athletics activity would mean that every school can reopen their campuses provided the medical experts give a green signal. This lift of moratorium on sports activities is a significant sign for conferences and schools — the athletes can be allowed back to normal workouts.

A Hopeful Stance for College Athletes.

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, this is going to be a significant moment of hope for the college athletes. In general, the month of June is an important time for colleges & college athletes. It is when they have serious discussions about how to hold classes — whether football should be organized with fans cheering around or without fans. With the coronavirus pandemic fears float around, the conferences decided to cancel almost all types of sports activities — moving to online classes. Whereas the Big Ten canceled sports activities through June 1, the Pac-12 & SEC suspended through May end.

Later on, in April there were some tweaks with more virtual connections between the athletes & the coaches. These guidelines included virtual team meetings, film reviews, and chalk talks — but till then there were no in-person sports-activities allowed.

Final Decision on Athletes returning for Voluntary workouts?

The final decision on whether to allow athletes to return for voluntary workouts would be in the hands of the schools & conferences. There isn’t any pressure with the moratorium allowed expiration. This is keeping with the fact that the rage coronavirus is causing in different states throughout the country is different — and therefore, the response methods are also different. It’s quite obvious that this is going to affect not only college athletes, however sports in general. Opinions on this with different predictions are coming from different sources, but a significant part of the athletic directors are positive about the season's game to happen.

Let’s wait for June 1 when the Voluntary Activity for Basketball & Football Starts!