Anastasiia Muzyka and Kseniya Kocyigiti go up for a block in a game against Trinity Western earlier this season (Image Credit: TRU Athletics)

By Chad Klassen

CANADA WEST CANCELLATION

Canada West watching regional exhibition play closely to find way forward next year

Oct 20, 2020 | 5:09 PM

KAMLOOPS — The cancellation of the Canada West season last week came as no surprise to many TRU WolfPack athletes.

“The months leading up to it was at the back of our mind,” said WolfPack men’s setter Anton Napolitano. “It is a little different not having set games to play to work towards now that we’re just practicing, but there is the hope he’ll be able to play some exhibition games against other B.C. teams.”

The idea of regional competition during regular season play was thoroughly discussed by the Canada West COVID-19 Task Force, but at the end of the day, many schools said it wouldn’t be a true competitive season with limited interprovincial travel.

“The big piece was the restrictions of travelling from province to province in Western Canada. We didn’t see a path forward where those restrictions were going to be lightened in the coming months,” noted TRU Athletic Director Curtis Atkinson. “We really had to think about that and we came to the realization a traditional Canada West season from B.C. to Manitoba probably wasn’t in the cards.”

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The big question heading into the pending decision to cancel the season or not was what would happen to senior student-athletes in their fifth and final years? Canada West decided it was only fair to extend eligibility to all athletes.

“I think it would’ve been wrong to charge eligibility in any way,” Atkinson said. “And quite frankly, I would’ve preferred that decision earlier in the summer, but that was the reality.”

Fourth-year basketball player Megan Rouault appreciates the extra year. It doesn’t change her school plans at all.

“For me, it’s kind of a good thing because I’m going to be in school for six years anyway, so I’m kind of excited because I have another year of eligibility and this year’s not going to count. It’s just another year to get better,” said Rouault.

For other TRU athletes, the extra year of eligibility may not make a difference.

“I’ll be done school most likely, so I won’t have any classes to take, so it’s still undecided,” fifth-year libero Hali Drazet told CFJC Today in an interview in September.

Atkinson says with Canada West potentially facing similar pandemic restrictions a year from now, the model of regional exhibition games could help the conference find a way forward in 2021.

“We’re going to have exhibition games. We’re doing that right now and it’s working to a certain extent,” he said. “There are challenges and we’ve had to cancel exhibition games, both home and away, because of potential COVID exposure, so it’s pretty complex.”