NJCAA Updates Plan

North Central Won’t Play Basketball Until January

The North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team will be gunning for a third-straight national tournament bid in the 2020-2021 season. A potential trip to Danville, IL won’t happen until April, however.
The NJCAA announced on Monday that the start of all winter sports seasons will be pushed back to January and will continue into April. That means there will be no games at the Ketcham Community Center for the North Central men or women until the calendar flips to 2021.
“Our greatest focus is, and always has been, providing the best opportunities for our student-athletes,” NJCAA President and CEO Dr. Christopher Parker said. “Through a unified effort from our Presidential Advisory Council, the Board of Regents and leadership staff, our most recent plan of action provides a path that keeps our student-athletes competing at the highest level with proper safety measures in place. As we move forward as an association, we will continue to provide opportunities for our student-athletes, coaches and all those involved with the NJCAA to be safe and successful.”
Colleges may begin official basketball practices on Jan. 11 with games allowed to start on Jan. 22. That pushes region and district competition back to an April 10 start and the national tournament will begin on April 19.
“We are excited that the NJCAA has set some parameters and guidelines for the COVID pandemic and we are very optimistic that we will get to have a season this year, starting in January,” North Central men’s basketball coach Jeremy Esry said. “The safety and well being of our student-athletes will be our top priority. There will be some challenges that present themselves along the way just because we are in such new and unmarked territory, however, with this much time we feel that we can devise a great game plan to help us reach our goals.”
The NJCAA is allowing 60 consecutive calendar days for practice and scrimmages between Sept. 15 and Dec. 15. Teams are also allowed five scrimmage dates in total for the year, with a maximum of two scrimmage dates allowed in the spring. Each scrimmage is limited to no more than two outside opponents.
“Honestly, I’m just happy we are going to get to have a season,” North Central women’s coach Jenni Croy said. “I like that they are allowing us to have five scrimmages before the season starts. My concern is the short time frame from Jan. 11 to Jan. 22 to get (players) back from Christmas (break) and back in shape but, honestly, our student-athletes at NCMC usually get a pretty long break from basketball over Christmas due to Holiday Hoops, so it shouldn’t be too much of a change for us. By allowing us to practice from September to December, we should be able to have worked on just about everything prior to break. It’ll be a change, but these kids are flexible and I know they will be ready to get on the court for games come January.”
North Central’s spring sports – baseball, softball and men’s and women’s golf – will continue to operate as normal for the championship seasons in the spring. Each of those teams are being limited to a 60-day window for their respective fall scrimmage seasons from Sept. 5-Nov. 15. The baseball team is limited to 15 scrimmages (not dates) in that window, while softball will get seven scrimmage dates and the golf teams each get 30 dates between the fall scrimmage and spring championship seasons.
NCMC’s president, Dr. Lenny Klaver, helped provide guidance to the NJCAA as he serves as a member of the organization’s ‘President’s Council.’
“We agreed these measures would ensure the best possible way to proceed with sports seasons while keeping the safety of student-athletes in mind foremost,” Klaver said. “I was pleased with the vote of the NJCAA regents being overwhelmingly in favor of the plan.”