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Daemen Athletics Navigates Unprecedented Semester

Wildcats Looking Ahead To Potential Return Of Competitions Come January 2021

By CONTACT: Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications | (716) 839-8385 | mmiranto@daemen.edu

AMHERST, N.Y. - When it became clear that COVID-19 would drastically alter the landscape of college athletics during the Fall 2020 semester, Daemen College Director of Athletics Traci Murphy didn’t mince words about the resolve of the Wildcats. 

“Let me assure you, the Daemen Division of Athletics is not closed. We must continue to compete for championships, regardless of what month the competition is in. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do,” Murphy wrote in a letter to Wildcat fans and supporters last July, just days after the college announced a postponement of all athletic competitions until after January 1, 2021. It was the second gut-wrenching announcement that COVID-19 forced upon the Division of Athletics, the first being the cancelation of remaining winter and spring sports last March which, among other heartbreaks, kept the Daemen men’s and women’s basketball teams from competing in their respective NCAA tournaments. 

True to Murphy’s sentiments, the Division of Athletics has found a way to keep student-athletes active and engaged despite the circumstances. Each of the college’s 17 intercollegiate athletic teams underwent a six-week resocialization period, a plan developed by Murphy and Jeff Sage, assistant athletics director for sports medicine and performance, that called for a gradual ascent of athletic activities. 

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Using guidance from the NCAA as well as state and local government, each sport-specific plan divided teams into smaller groups, or pods as they came to be known. The pod structure allowed coaches to conduct individual skill instruction as well as strength and conditioning workouts while minimizing the potential COVID exposure of each student-athlete. The gradual nature of the plan also lowered the risk for severe injuries that may have resulted had the return to normal practice and play been quick and hasty, a legitimate concern given the nearly six-month gap between the abrupt ending of practices and competitions last spring until the beginning of fall workouts.

“I think it's gone well. I know some people may say it's not fast enough, but I think not only have our active COVID cases on campus stayed low, and that also is reflected in athletics, but so far we have been able to keep injuries to a minimum as well. So again, we're doing well, we're not finished yet, we got to finish it off and continue on. But so far, so good,” Sage said in an interview for daemenwildcats.com in mid-October. 

“Our student-athletes and coaches have embraced the challenges that come with engaging in athletic activities during this pandemic. There are many hurdles to clear before we're ready for a return to competition, but seeing how things have worked thus far keeps me optimistic. I'm confident that we'll be able to control the things that are within our control,” Murphy wrote in the October edition of Paw Prints, an electronic newsletter for fans and supporters of Daemen Athletics.

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Women's soccer coach Dan Dolan addresses his team prior to their Blue vs. White Scrimmage which wrapped up their fall practice sessions

While they adjusted to unique athletic obligations and balanced the usual academic workload, student-athletes were also engaged in various community projects and initiatives. Following the social unrest that enveloped the country in late spring and into summer, Daemen student-athletes were vocal about their desire to fight against racial injustice and for a more inclusive world. Those sentiments carried over to the fall semester when senior tennis student-athlete Jose Williamson III authored the first in a series of blog posts known as the Wildcat Social Series, a platform for student-athletes to write about topics of their choosing. Climate change, mental health and the importance of voting were covered, among other topics. Williamson III, a Minneapolis native, blogged about the murder of George Floyd that triggered protests around the country. It happened just blocks from his home.

“That day, I began to understand all of the times when my father would say, ‘watch your speed’ and my mother would say, ‘be home soon,’ and all the prayers from my grandmother that made it very clear that this was bigger than just their love for me. It was their love for all of us. It was because they understood the harsh reality of systemic racism that we have to deal with every single day. As hard as it was, I began to face the reality that George Floyd could very well have been me,” Williamson wrote. 

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The turbulence brought on by social justice movements and a global pandemic also led student-athletes to become active in voter registration efforts here on campus. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee partnered with the History and Political Science Department, the Division of Institutional Advancement and the Division of Student Affairs to launch the “Get Civically Fit at Daemen” campaign, a college-wide effort to promote voter registration and provide information on the voting process.  

There were other COVID-safe projects to keep student-athletes engaged as well. In October, a group of student-athletes participated in a socially-distanced reading program for children at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. The women’s tennis team, led by newly appointed head coach Jesse Plote, provided virtual tennis instruction as part of the Western New York Girls in Sports Day, a program sponsored by the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County. Student-athletes with the men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball teams spent time, both in person and virtually, developing relationships with four children through a partnership with Team IMPACT, a national nonprofit organization that pairs college athletic programs with children who face life-threatening and chronic illnesses. A campus-wide mask sale conducted by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee raised money for the American Cancer Society. And, the Division of Athletics announced a new partnership with Olympic medalist Samantha Livingstone to bring The WHOLE Athlete Initiative to our campus to shine a light on student-athlete mental health objectives.

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As Thanksgiving neared and the student body prepared to end the semester with virtual learning, the Division of Athletics turned its attention to the anticipated return of competitions. The East Coast Conference has released revised schedule formats that include a reduction in the overall number of contests due in part to a decreased timeframe for seasons of competition. This includes a re-imagining of schedules for men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball, sports that normally compete in the fall that will see their abbreviated seasons moved to March and April of 2021. Men’s and women’s basketball will be the first teams reporting back to campus with their seasons slated to get underway in mid-January.

While the planning and preparation continue, the execution of teams returning to competition is likely to come down to COVID testing, as Murphy noted in her October Paw Prints letter.

“Testing presents a problem on two fronts. First, we need access to COVID tests that provide an accurate reading more rapidly than what's currently at our disposal. Secondly, COVID testing presents a huge unbudgeted expense for our division. We have no choice but to be as fiscally conservative as possible while also aggressively looking at external revenue sources to help us bridge the gap,” she wrote.

Enter the Game On Campaign revealed by the Divisions of Athletics and Institutional Advancement in November. Without lucrative television contracts that have driven the return of big-time Division I sports, NCAA Division II schools like Daemen are thinking outside the box when it comes to returning to competition during a global pandemic. The Game On Campaign asks donors to contribute at various levels to the Daemen Wildcats Gotta Play Fund which will offset losses in valuable external revenue lines that make a direct impact on a championship-caliber student-athlete experience. 

“These student-athletes have lost out on so much since the pandemic began, and we must do everything in our power to ensure their hard work and sacrifices aren't met with yet another disappointment,” Murphy said. 

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