This year will be very interesting for most Tallahassee natives and college students in the capital city of Florida.
After months of deep consideration, all fall sports and 2020 homecoming celebrations have been cancelled at Florida A&M University due to rising COVID-19 cases. Fall sports and annual homecoming celebrations bring in a massive amount of funding and the experience will not be the same.
Athletes are worried about not being able to focus without sports and rigorous virtual learning because they are on a set schedule that provides appropriate courses with athletic tutors, meal plans, and a constant workout schedules that is no longer happening. It raises concerns about future playing ability if athletes are not in proper shape.
Evan Matthews, a Tallahassee native, believes FAMU should not have given up on fall sports even though its athletic conference, the MEAC, made the call to suspend all fall sports.
“I honestly feel like there should be fall sports. Yes, there is a pandemic going on but with the right safety precautions illness can be prevented. Sports give athletes a place of peace and escape and I don’t think it’s fair to take that away from them. For some of them that’s all they have,” he said.
Other students are not concerned about funding.
“Everything should be postponed until everyone can survive normally again,” said Chrissy Mutton, a business administration major.
“No, I don’t think the university will be in debt or will endure any type of funding issues. If the university allocated their money properly, they should be able to survive off of the budget they created for themselves. It is really a huge excuse and saddens me as a student that it took higher-ups to cancel fall sports and homecoming. Millions of lives are in danger, what do you think will happen if we have fall sports and homecoming,” she added.
However, some students are completely devastated because of the opportunities that they will never experience due to the coronaviruspandemic.
Edward Heaven, a second-year education major, does not see an upside to canceling fall sports and homecoming.
“Not having fall sports especially football season and going without a homecoming has a negative impact on the school year’s outcome. Freshmen students don’t really have a freshman experience, they have a strict curfew, no roommates, no school events due to Covid-19. Also, FAMU has been affected financially because the football team is coming off a great season and this year’s football team had high expectations,” he said.