On July 29 the governing board of the Big West conference released a press statement announcing all fall 2020 sports seasons will be postponed until the end of the calendar year. With various restrictions on training for student athletes during this pandemic, this decision effectively puts various CSU Bakersfield fall sports on the shelf for the foreseeable future.  

While this decision is was expected and intended to protect the health of the student athletes, coaches, and administration involved; it was still deeply disappointing to everyone affected. Teams like the Roadrunners volleyball team have already lost their spring beach season due to this pandemic, but now they might be losing out a second season with indoor competition being delayed until 2021. 

CSUB volleyball players, like senior Emily Hansen, were disappointed in the news that the season is postponed. But that hasn’t stopped the team from being positive minded about the season and preparing through individual training while also bonding anyway they can virtually. 

“We do workouts on our own,” Hansen said. “There are some gyms open now that we can go to. And team wise we are still building our bond as best as we can virtually. We have a lot of zoom calls with the coaches just with ourselves. So, we still have some opportunities to talk and get to know one another.” 

Because most fall sports outside of football are not allowed by the NCAA to conduct individual workouts on campus, that presents an interesting challenge for coaching staffs to stay on top of their players.  

CSUB Director of Volleyball Giovana Melo says she trusts that her players are doing all they can to prepare themselves for the season, but it’s not the workouts or the games that the players are missing most it’s the in-person interaction that they all have with one another. 

“For us what we are really wanting is that interaction back again,” Melo said. “If it takes wearing masks and social distancing and stay doing that, I think that the girls just need that interaction again. 

Although the door has not closed by any means on the Roadrunners season, various precautions will be made to help deter the spread COVID-19 among teams. Among the precautions taken may be the loss of spectators according to CSUB Director of Athletics Dr. Kenneth Siegfried. 

“What we know at this point is that there would be testing requirements for the teams and it would be unlikely to have spectators at this point but we will know more in the next few months,” Siegfried said. 

Siegfried also said that if fall sports do have their seasons, their length of schedule will most likely be shortened in some way. But Hansen said no matter the conditions that need to be met in order to return, the unanimous hopes from the Roadrunners volleyball team is that they will be able to play this season to some extent. And the team will be well prepared for that day when they can take the court together once again.