INSIGHT: Mandatory NCAA Covid Policy for Practice, Competition a Must

Of late, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is exhibiting alarming similarities to Washington. The federal government’s failure to establish a national Covid-19 plan has resulted in disastrous consequences arising from a patchwork of decisions by individual states. Similarly, the present lack of uniform Covid-19 guidance from the NCAA could lead to catastrophe as individual schools are left to design their own protocols.

For collegiate sports to proceed safely and without interruption throughout the upcoming school year, the NCAA must provide clear, uniform, and mandatory Covid-19-related guidelines that will apply equally to each of its member institutions across the country. Developing, implementing, and enforcing consistent requirements is particularly important with respect to training and conditioning cycles following potential interruptions in play due to Covid-19. Applying individualized approaches in this area will not only fail, but will also place athletes at a high risk of injury and even death.

Guidance Created

To its credit, the NCAA Sports Science Institute has taken steps to address the unprecedented pandemic-related challenges that its programs are facing by, among other things, creating Core Principles of Resocialization of Collegiate Sport. This guidance includes recommendations regarding testing, physical distancing, and mask protocols. In the absence of mandatory requirements, however, individualized plans continue to evolve at colleges and universities.

Permitting these individualized approaches to the resumption of training and conditioning cycles is especially dangerous. In fact, recognizing that there is a significant increase in the likelihood of injury following an interruption in conditioning, the NCAA and the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) have issued various guidelines in recent years recommending that when student athletes transition back to training after a period of inactivity, workouts should have lower work-to-rest ratios and progress gradually to full intensity. (See Preventing Catastrophic Injury and Death in Collegiate Athletes; Position Statement, Preventing Sudden Death in Sports; National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Exertional Heat Illnesses.) All college-level coaches and related staff are expected to know, implement, and enforce NCAA and NATA guidelines in their programs.

Unlike NCAA and NATA’s uniform progressive conditioning mandates, however, the NCAA’s Covid-19 guidance leaves final decisions concerning conditioning transitions to individual college athletics administrators and health-care providers, offering no specific mandates addressing the new and unique challenges that the virus presents. When a student athlete, coach, or athletic trainer tests positive for Covid-19, a 10- to 14-day moratorium on conditioning for affected student athletes typically results. Based upon previously-issued, non-Covid-19 guidelines, progressive training following a Covid-19 interruption would likely require that coaches gradually increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of training sessions. The NCAA has not, however, set forth any requirements for a post-Covid-19 transition period.

Sobering Reminders

The 2018 tragic deaths of University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair and Garden City (Kansas) Community College football player Braedon Bradforth serve as sobering reminders of the potential dangers associated with return-to-play cycles, as both athletes lost their lives due to the lack of an acclimatization period and poorly designed (or complete absence of) fitness assessments.

Recently, student athletes, themselves, who recall these tragedies, have begun demanding uniform health and safety protections related to Covid-19, and are making their voices heard through the “We are United” and “We Want to Play” movements. Likewise, lawmakers, including Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), recently introduced legislation, including a “Bill of Rights” for NCAA athletes, which incorporated better health-care protections for these students.

In the meantime, however, college athletics are floundering without clear leadership. For example, the Big Ten and PAC-12 programs recently canceled their seasons altogether, while the Big 12 Conference and SEC programs chose to forge ahead. These conflicting decisions further illustrate the need for uniform guidance.

Certainly, it will be challenging to design and apply Covid-19-related mandates regarding the appropriate amount and intensity of exercise following a period of inactivity that will maximize performance and minimize the likelihood of injury. Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon the NCAA to do so. Athletes and their families must have confidence that health and safety is the primary focus of any return-to-play guidelines. The NCAA can do better than Washington, D.C. The organization still has a chance to construct broad mandates that will protect lives, while allowing college sports to proceed. It needs to get to work.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. or its owners.

Author Information

Randy Aliment is a partner at the Seattle office of the national law firm Lewis Brisbois. He focuses his practice on higher education and sports, and also serves on the firm’s Covid-19 response team. He co-authored the independent investigation report on the death of Braedon Bradforth with Dr. Rod Walters.

Dr. Rod Walters is president of Walters Inc.—Consultants in Sports Medicine. The former director of sports medicine at the University of South Carolina, he authored the independent investigation report on the death of Jordan McNair