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IVC will delay it's sports program to 2021

When Imperial Valley College's president made the decision to make all the school's Fall classes online; the fate of the athletics program was sealed for the rest of 2020.

News 11 Sports caught up with IVC Athletic Director Jim Mecate on Thursday, who said that decision essentially prevents any athletic events tied with the program from taking place during the Fall.

On July 17th, the California Community College Athletic Association will likely announce a decision on whether to compact the Fall Sports season with a much later starting date or to move all the different sports to compete in smaller season blocks in the Spring of 2021.

Regardless of what the CCCAA decides, it still won't change IVC's athletics course, but could eliminate the potential seasons of it's Fall sports programs completely; if the "all in" option for the Spring isn't chosen.

But, Mecate believes the 2nd option will prevail.

"I'm pretty sure they're going to shift everything to the Spring. That's kind of the sentiment I got from the other athletic directors. But, we'll wait and see what happens."

Even though the source of all this change (the Coronavirus Pandemic) has proven to be almost unpredictable to this point, Mecate believes this plan will greatly increase the chances of safety for his student athletes, coaches and staff; which is his bottom line.

"Nothing will go forward if we're putting the students at risk. That's #1. Conditioning-wise, they can start in January and give them about a month to prepare. The students will be working out on their own hopefully before that. So, when they come into the team practices, they're in a lot better shape. #1 is student's health and the staff; all those involved. So, we're not going forward unless we can make sure it's a pretty healthy situation."