WESTFIELD – On Jan. 22, the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) announced that its Council of Presidents had canceled the postponed fall season for schools in the conference including Westfield State University.

By cancelling the postponed fall season, Westfield State University Associate Athletic Director Dave Caspole said it reflects the reality of the COVID-19 world.

“I think it just reflects the reality of the situation we are in with COVID-19. The information on public health changes every day. As a department we’ve tried to stay as flexible as possible, we had practices in the fall and tried to keep all options open as long as possible for a chance to have a full season and as the year evolves it becomes more and more apparent that’s not going to happen,” he said.

Before the cancellation, Caspole said the university was trying to hold out as long as possible in order to have some kind of fall season in the spring.

“I think the idea with the outdoor sports was as time went on and we got closer to the vaccine, you tried to keep open the door that there might be a better chance to do something more complete in the spring, but as the year went on it became evident that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.

Fall and winter athletes will continue practice and may participate in non-traditional games in the spring after the NCAA relaxed typical season standards.

“The NCAA has removed some of the limitations of the typical season. So, you have 140 days in which you can conduct athletic activity with a team. Our fall sports will continue to practice as things go forward in the spring we’ll see if there’s a chance to have one or two non-traditional games,” Caspole said.

Despite cancellations to both the fall and winter seasons, Caspole said he is optimistic for the spring season.

“We’re operating with the idea that we think we are going to play spring sports in some capacity. Most of those decisions are made by the MASCAC Council of Presidents, so our job is to be prepared for whatever happens when they make their decision in February,” he said.

Caspole said that because spring sports are considered lower risk for COVID, he is hoping they will be able to play.

“With the spring sports being outdoors and the nature of the sport, the NCAA has classified them as a lower risk category than the indoor sports so that gives us some optimism to be able to play,” he said.

While athletes are eligible to return to Westfield State and other MASCAC schools to participate in fall and winter athletics for the 2021-2022 school year, it remains to be determined if the same will be true for spring athletes.

“For the fall and winter sport athletes, you will have the opportunity to get that year of eligibility back through an NCAA eligibility waiver. The spring remains to be seen; the NCAA has a set number of games that is half the normal number of games. If your team schedules and plays more than 20 games it will be considered as a full season,” he said.

Because of Westfield State’s graduate programs, Caspole said any seniors who missed their season in the 2020-2021 school year can return in the fall.

“We have a handful of students that will play as graduate students on a regular basis so there are opportunities for that. It’s fortunate that we have graduate opportunities that they may be able to transition into,” he said.

While Division 1 schools are continuing with their winter sports including basketball, Caspole said it would have been unrealistic to do so.

“At the Division 1 level during the winter as basketball has gone on, those schools are testing three to five times a week to be able to do that, which gets very expensive and prohibitive from a small college standpoint,” he said.

The MASCAC Council of Presidents will make their decision on the status of spring sports in February.