Ready for the chance to play

AWC set to bring back sports seasons.

Arizona Western College Athletics is ready to make it's long awaited return.

It's been roughly 9 months since any AWC athletic events have taken place since the start of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

And now, Matador Athletics is about 2 weeks away from making a comeback with the men's basketball team scheduled to begin it's season on January 20th.

AWC Athletics practices began earlier Monday under the current social distancing mandates currently in place; which equates to conditioning practices.

Besides the concerns related to the ongoing pandemic, higher rates of injury risks for the student athletes are also possible due to the long-term layoff of game competition.

AWC Associate Athletic Director and Sports Information Director Tim Slack explains the state of the Mats program as it prepares for the return of collegiate sports.

"The biggest hurdle was getting the kids here. And now, it's just a matter of protocols. I think you look at the sports landscape across the country and it would be naive to think that we're not going to have some postponements or some cancellations, or to having to push things back because of contact tracing. But, I think my optimism level has jumped up just because of the fact that we have student athletes on campus and we're proceeding with caution as best as we can."

By the time the semester begins next week, AWC is expected to have close to 120 student athletes on campus.

No word yet on whether or not Matador fans will be clear to attend any games on campus this Spring semester.