{"id":448211,"date":"2020-10-01T20:43:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T03:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=448211"},"modified":"2020-10-01T20:43:40","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T03:43:40","slug":"swim-poll-of-the-week-52-in-favor-of-delaying-start-to-ncaa-season-until-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swim-poll-of-the-week-52-in-favor-of-delaying-start-to-ncaa-season-until-january\/","title":{"rendered":"Swim Poll of the Week: 52% in Favor of Delaying Start to NCAA Season Until January"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the Swim Poll of the Week for Thursday October 1, 2020, sponsored by Strechcordz Swim Training Products<\/a>. In our last poll, we wanted to know:\u00a0Do you support an NCAA swimming and diving season not starting until January<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pac-12 Conference\u00a0announced Thursday night<\/a>\u00a0that it will resume the football, basketball and winter sports seasons, with swimming & diving to commence \u201cconsistent with the NCAA season dates for those sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pac-12 had\u00a0postponed the fall season and delayed the winter season through Jan. 1, 2021 in an Aug. 11 decision<\/a>\u00a0due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But according to Thursday\u2019s release, in consultation with \u201cupdated health and safety recommendations\u201d and a\u00a0new rapid-results testing program<\/a>, the league has reversed course. Changes by the Big Ten and other conferences\u2019 willingness to continue with sports also left the Pac-12 on an island by itself among the Power 5 conferences.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s announcement specifically cites changes in the rationale from six weeks as including, \u201cconsistent access to sufficient testing across all Pac-12 programs\u201d and less prevalence of COVID-19 in school communities. The return also includes new protocols to monitor athletes\u2019 cardiac functioning after the\u00a0possible link between COVID-19 and myocarditis<\/a>, an infection of the heart tissue that includes potentially dangerous swelling.<\/p>\n

The Big Ten Conference Administrator\u2019s Council has determined that with the exception of football, men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball, and men\u2019s and women\u2019s ice hockey, there shall be no competition prior to January 1, 2021, in an email to swim and dive coaches obtained by\u00a0Swimming World<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Big Ten is the second power five Division I conference to make a decision regarding a\u00a0swimming and diving season<\/a>, after the\u00a0Southeastern Conference<\/a>\u00a0announced they would only hold dual meets and no conference championship as of yet. There has been no indication on what the meets will entail in terms of spectator attendance and lane restrictions, or if teams will be limited on where they can travel.<\/p>\n

The Big Ten Conference recently became the fourth power five conference to move forward with a condensed\u00a0conference-only football season<\/a>, following the lead from the SEC, ACC and Big 12, with decisions regarding the other sports seasons coming shortly. The Pac-12, which houses premiere swimming and diving teams Stanford, Cal, and Southern Cal, has made an agreement with\u00a0the\u00a0Quidel Corporation<\/a>\u00a0to allow for daily COVID testing, and could return to competition sooner than the original January 1 date.<\/p>\n

There is still no word on if the NCAA championships will proceed as scheduled in March, but with the Big Ten only proceeding with meets starting in January, it could hinder the post-season.<\/p>\n