NJCAA Pushes Volleyball/Basketball to January Starts

NJCAA Pushes Volleyball/Basketball to January Starts

CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Florida SouthWestern State Athletics fans who were hoping to get back into Suncoast Credit Union Arena to cheer on the Buccaneers this fall will have to wait a little bit longer as Monday, the NJCAA announced that a number of sports, including Volleyball and Basketball, have been moved from fall starts, to January starts due to COVID-19 for the 2020-2021 season. 

The blow to the Bucs fall starts comes just weeks after the NJCAA put out a 32 page 'Path to Play' document for sports to resume in August. 

Volleyball will have the biggest adjustment to make this year, moving back five months from completely a fall sport, to now, completely a spring sport.  The Bucs were originally scheduled to begin practice for their 2020 campaign on August 1st with their opening match scheduled for August 21st, but now, will have a 60 day official practice window in the fall before beginning spring preparations on January 4th and their competition season on January 22nd.  The NJCAA National Tournament has been moved from November to early April. 

The Bucs Basketball teams will also have an adjustment to make.  Their seasons, which usually see official practice open on October 1st with games scheduled the final weekend of October, will now, like Volleyball, have a 60 day practice window in the fall before beginning regular season preparations January 11th and games January 29th.  The National Tournaments have been pushed back approximately a month, turning the usual March Madness into April Madness for 2021. 

A change that will affect all three teams is the number of competition dates for the 2021 campaign.  Basketball sees their schedule trim down from 30 games to 22 while Volleyball sees a 25% reduction in their number of allowable dates, going from 28 to 20 for this season. 

A number of other sports, including Football and Soccer saw significant changes in their calendars as well. 

For full details of the most recent COVID-19 related changes for the Bucs and the rest of the NJCAA, CLICK HERE.