In the past few weeks, we saw something talked about that we, as a community, have missed, we, as a student body, have missed and we, as a town, have missed. West Chester University Golden Rams athletics will indeed move forward as planned for 2021! From the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) on Nov. 11, the board voted in majority to move forward with spring athletics, with winter sports being an exception, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise across our region and across the state. As sports return, I am sure we will see a major boost of school spirit return across our campus and borough.
To look back on all that has happened this past year is one for the history books, and that is for sure. We saw the sudden cancellation of the 2019–20 season in March as the pandemic finally broke out from its incubation stages and reached as far as the NBA. All of this began to change our lives back on March 11, as the NBA immediately cancelled its season then. With that, all sports and other things began to fall under the domino effect. As the professional seasons cancelled play, so too did the many universities like West Chester. WCU saw the normalcy come to an end on March 10, just a day prior to all that occurring as the campus shut its doors and cancelled their athletics for the rest of the semester. We’ve come a long way since then, as we all know more about COVID-19 and how it affects the body, as well as having available testing and possible vaccines in the coming months. When will we see such vaccines work on a long-term scale? Perhaps sometime in 2021, but for now, let us celebrate that these seniors may finally get their chance to ride out into the sunset the way they wanted, on the field playing their respective sports. Many of us may have never thought this would have been possible so soon, and it is still up in the air by the PSAC and WCU. In the end, it is an opportunity to push ahead to the path of the lives we once lived before this life-changing pandemic. To all the coaches, staff members and students of the Golden Rams Athletics, I hope for all of us that the spring season goes smoothly. I can definitely say that we all definitely underestimated how much sports are a part of our lives and how much it affects us.
All in all, this entire year has shown us many things about ourselves and how much sports have meant to us. With WCU and the PSAC going forward in keeping spring athletics going, we shall see how the athletes react and how they act amongst their teammates and amongst themselves in order to keep each other safe. The lessons learned from watching the NFL continue to churn forward could also prove a proper and safer way forward. Here’s to the return of our Golden Rams in 2021!
Jeff Babcock is a fourth-year student majoring in communications and minoring in journalism. jb884128@wcupa.edu