It’s not close to 40%…40% is all athletes. It’s probably less than 20% for Spring (appreciating some do more than 1 sport).
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Hamilton is still 5 hours from everyone 
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I object to the use of “elite”. The sports can be played safely. I watched a video of the choir and other musical performancers who were accommodated.
If it wasn’t safe, or against the majority of the Conference, I wouldn’t be rattling this cage.
Other schools decided differently, showing they have different ideas. Serious athletes might prefer one of those schools.
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The longest travel time within the NESCAC East division is 4 hrs and 2 mins (Trinity to Colby). The longest travel time within the somewhat more compact (when considered by most distant points) NESCAC West division is 3 hrs and 35 mins (Wesleyan to Middlebury).
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I always forget about Trinity. So no one wants to go to Hamilton or Trinity…
. All I know is that unless you really have a lead foot, Hamilton to Midd is just under 5 hours…
Under legal driving conditions, this trip (189 miles) takes 3 hours and 21 minutes.
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All I’m saying as a recruit, the fact that Haverford can’t come up with something whether is more local play, some non-CC opponents, whatever is duly noted. Says a lot about the commitment of the school to something that’s important to my kid. Why go there when there are other opportunities where her thing (sports) is valued more?
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At this point it is mind boggling. The uber virus-respecting science our large school followed here in FL (as did schools in surrounding counties) had NO interruption in “in person” instruction, beginning as planned mid-Aug - unless you made the choice for remote (which was “live”, but watching instruction from home which some still do). They did every other day in person for the 1st interim or Q then moved to 5 days. All teachers and faculty returned as well, of course mask wearing and other precautions implemented, but no required testing.
Their school year has not had any interruptions and will hold live Graduation ceremony with families (outside) again as they did in May of 2020. Further, ALL sports continued with no masks worn during games by athletes but very limited spectators. To this point, there has not been a single outbreak on ANY of our teams and stunningly, only a few isolated student & faculty cases. The entire community receives communication if there is a positive case even if one’s student is not part of the contact tracing. I have to admit, I am pleasantly shocked it has been extremely successful. Thankfully, no serious illness or hospitalizations which has been the goal all along. Speaking to our family and friends up N they clearly can’t get their head around this when we compare notes.
So, knowing what CAN be accomplished “safely“ - realizing everyone has their own definition (as I have witnessed/experienced it over the past 7 months), I can only shake my head at some of the decisions being made at many institutions. Every day I read something & I feel like we are living in another country. At this point, it illustrates what my Grandmother used to say, “common sense is not common”.
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Completely agree!!! BTW - my wife is an educator in FL who teaches live to live kids and zooms to the few that choose remote. Has all school yr with ZERO interruption. No illness in her school. Have a few kids been quarantined? Yes, after Thanksgiving. But not only NO serious illness. NO ILLNESS period. And don’t be fooled by the pristine and clear observance of mask waring and social distancing. It’s a fantasy. Try keeping 20 1st graders in masks all day. Most of the time she’s having to tell little Johnny to get the mask off the back of his head. For real!
I’m not a hoaxer and have taken this quite seriously as I have medical conditions that put me way in the high risk category. All we need to do is just be smart. Limit exposure to whatever is practical.
My biggest concern is the thought police has firmly drifted from making sure we don’t overrun the medical system to this doesn’t end until nobody has covid (which means never). All we need to do is get to a place where Covid is more like the seasonal flu. No one seemed to care that 30k-50k people die in the US each yr (other than this yr). We didn’t shut down the world.
Vaccinating 80% of the population should do that. For those that don’t want to get vaccinated for whatever reason, not our problem as they won’t overrun the medical system.
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No dog in the Haverford fight specifically, although this would have kept my athlete from applying there (or any of the Ivies or NESCACs).
95% of the time I am on the “pro caution” side. Yes, I have been asked to leave a store because I was insisting that they enforce their mask policy. In the unlikely event you shop unmasked in my neighborhood, you may have been confronted by an angry middle aged man in a beard. That was me.
But I think this is stupid. 1 - everyone except the “I’m smarter than you” schools have figured out how to do this relatively safely, and 2 - we are asking our kids to make tremendous sacrifices to benefit our generation and mostly our parents’ generation. I’m guessing the likelihood of students dying in a tragic accident on the way to a game (1970’s Marshall football, or many smaller incidents since then) are higher than a healthy 20 year old dying of Covid, even in the unlikely event they contract it.
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Maybe it’s not just that they can’t figure out how to do it safely, but that there is already a varsity athlete/non athlete divide at Haverford (probably the biggest problem with school culture in my non-varsity-athlete daughter’s opinion), and letting the athletes have some normal while everyone else is still under a mountain of rules and abnormal would cause problems too, just different ones.
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This increases the divide it doesn’t help. I know several athletes at these schools a couple have transferred and most are pretty resentful of the non athletes. There is a big us v them attitude that I wasn’t aware of before.
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They’re resentful of non-athletes? Because everyone is being treated the same? Why? Athletes seem to get more than their fair share of resources, especially considering its D3 and sports are not exactly a money maker or anything. Why in the world would a lacrosse player (random example as it’s a big sport on campus) think their ability to play is more important than a club athlete, or an outside athlete- or a dancer or a singer or a person who wants to be in a play? First and foremost they’re all there to learn, and everything else is secondary and can be brought back when life can be more normal.
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So true. Every one needs to lose their selfishness. If they had this would have been long over.
Everyone breaks the rules and the pandemic has gone on and on.
Sports have no place right now. Unfortunate but true.
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“Sports have no place right now”… what? Why not. How about for all the kids that play and all the kids that want to watch. If they didn’t start televising sports last summer I know many, myself included, would have lost their mind.
Whatever can be done safely should be allowed to happen. I don’t care if it’s sports, the debate team, plays, etc.
I also think every prof should be on the vaccine shortlist and then start live classes again.
I think when this is all over, we’re going to see a major shift in what colleges do, how they operate. Some, I believe many, will keep virtual learning as a major component to their delivery system. Kids will have to factor that in to the “fit” part. I was always amazed how so many kids were taking virtual classes pre- covid at some large state Us. They’ll be very different models going forward. Wonder what the price points will look like.
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Being as many games were cancelled. Many of the college football teams had to cancel games and seasons as covid decimated their rosters I’d disagree. We do not know the long term effects. Will these kids die younger. Will they not have kids or kids with disabilities etc. so yes I feel for your mental state but I believe society has been selfish. That’s a medical note political argument.
We have a mask mandate where I live. Completely flouted. Not a single citation written. And we wonder why our kids have to be quarantined numerous times ?
So that’s how I feel. Yes
I wouldn’t agree that sports have no place right now. It’s an important part of the collegiate experience, and should be available if it’s deemed safe by the leadership of each institution. The Tri-Co schools decided against that.
Several of my suggestions have been called false equivalents. In reality, nobody here has any sense of all of the details that go in to these decisions. The title of this thread is based on an overriding notion that the Centennial schools are the same. They are not. In the time of Covid, there are no equivalents.
It’s right to be upset that the spring seasons have been cancelled, but expressing that dismay by lashing out at administration and suggesting they are incompetent while referencing the issues from the fall is uninformed and unwarranted. Doing it by starting multiple “warning” threads is vindictive, and reeks of entitlement (I paid $60k and nobody asked me or told me).
As the parent of a college athlete (and a former Div 1 athlete), the parental suggestions regarding the importance of sports aren’t surprising. I’ve been watching in amazement for decades.
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If sports can be played safely then there’s another reason the administration decided not to participate in spring sports. Maybe not all the sports are as safe as you think they are. Or maybe the college is concerned about equity. Allowing only 30% of the students to return to their main EC as if everything is normal may not be seen as fair to the other 70%. You haven’t answered my question about how that would impact the mental health of the 70% of the students who aren’t athletes.
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Why would sports have no place at this point ? Per my post/reply above, our kids had a completely successful and safe experience with organized sports teams both in school and on club teams - since last summer. Every single team enjoyed a season but with limited fans. Zero outbreaks with reasonable precautions taken. Happy and healthy kids !
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All truly fascinating. I’m a bad person,selfish, entitled, I have an axe to grind, my DD should have known better…etc etc etc.
The point of the post is to let athletes who are considering going to Haverford know that the experience of the athlete is not a priority of the current administration, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of the conference, including Johns Hopkins, have decided that outdoor sports are more beneficial than harmful for their student bodies, and Haverford has not.
Thus, the serious athlete with other options might want to chose a different school , and frankly, all these posts merely prove my point!
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