On your mark: PAC is a go with sports
The Presidents’ Athletic Conference finally made it to the starting line Saturday when it began athletic competition for the 2020-21 school year.
After postponing fall sports and delaying the start of winter seasons because of the coronavirus pandemic, the PAC returned to the hardwood for a men’s-women’s basketball doubleheader between Bethany and conference newcomer Franciscan. However, not everything went as planned. A second doubleheader, between Westminster and Geneva, was postponed because of a COVID-19 situation at the latter school.
The PAC is playing a nine-game, round-robin regular season for basketball before holding its conference tournaments. Instead of a marathon, the season has turned into a sprint. Washington & Jefferson will play seven games over a 14-day stretch. Waynesburg has five games in 10 days and nine in 24.
“The schedule is a player’s dream,” W&J women’s coach Jina DeRubbo said. “Once the season starts, they’ll never have to practice.”
So who has the advantage in a condensed season?
Waynesburg men’s coach Tim Fusina thinks experienced teams – those with many returning players – will have a decided head start on their rivals.
“In my opinion, they do,” Fusina said. “Because the season is so short, they have a definite advantage.”
No so fast with that line of thinking, says some coaches, including DeRubbo. Though she has four seniors on the roster, including two who will be starting for a fourth season, DeRubbo points out that not all situations are equal at PAC schools. While some teams began full-squad practices in October, the W&J women did not.
“Our first full practice will be at 4:15 today,” DeRubbo said Monday morning. “We had about half of our kids – eight players – on campus in the fall. We had two opt out this season.”
At W&J, students returned to campus from the holiday break two weeks ago but had to quarantine for 14 days. That meant no basketball practices.
“We gave them playbooks, sent then some videos, had a couple of Zoom calls. We gave them Beachbody on Demand workouts to do in their dorm rooms so they can stay in shape,” DeRubbo said. “I’m worried about injuries when we start practicing.”
The situation was different at Waynesburg, where the Yellow Jackets’ teams, like all in the NCAA, were permitted to start workouts Oct. 1.
“We had pod workouts in October and started full-team practices Oct. 20,” Fusina said. “We did those until the week before Thanksgiving. When we practice (Monday), it will be practice No. 28 for us.”
No doubt that Fusina’s team used a couple of those practices for his players to get to know one another. Waynesburg does not have a senior on its roster, which is dominated by freshmen.
“What I’m excited most about is that we were able to practice in full and then come back and have a season,” Fusina said. “It was unknown if we were going to have a season. We saw the falls sports canceled and were thinking, ‘Are we next?’ We didn’t get a schedule until the 14th of this month, so there was always that unknown. Still, we remained hopeful that there would be a season. And we have to remember that this could all fall apart at any time.”
That’s why DeRubbo has been stressing to her players that in order for the PAC season to get to the finish line it will take every coach, player, athletic trainer and manager to do their part and not let their guard down.
“I told our kids that because the season is so short, we need 100 percent commitment. If one kid goes off campus, you’re hurting the kids who aren’t doing that. And I put myself in that category. I have to watch who I am around and what I am doing.”
W&J’s teams will begin play Feb. 6. The men host Chatham and the women will play at the Cougars. Waynesburg opens Feb. 3 against Grove City, the men at home and women on the road.
As required by the NCAA, players at PAC schools undergo COVID-19 testing multiple times per week. If somebody within the program tests positive or is linked through contact tracing to somebody who tests positive, then the program will be shut down for at least 10 days.
“I was pessimistic that we’d get to this point. I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” DeRubbo admitted. “We didn’t talk much about it. … I really didn’t think we’d get here, but (PAC commissioner) Joe Onderko and a lot of people have done so much work to get this thing to work.
“I know that when practice starts, I’ll feel like I have my life back. I need this so badly, just to have some normalcy again.”