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Northern Vermont University is now part of Vermont State University! Please visit VermontState.edu for accurate information.

Athletics During COVID-19

NVU Spring 2021 Athletics

Winter Athletics Practice Underway

As announced on January 11, 2021, NVU’s athletics conference, the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), cancelled NAC competition for men’s and women’s basketball due to health and safety concerns and logistics of travel to the geographic locations of its member institutions. However, conference member schools were granted the autonomy to schedule non-conference competitions following updated recommendations from the NCAA released on December 15, 2020. NVU athletics is scheduling athletic competitions for our men’s and women’s basketball. The Presidents of the NAC will meet again on February 19 to discuss conference competition for spring and fall sports.

To ensure that NVU athletes enjoy a robust athletics experience, NVU will resume basketball practice sessions on January 23 and will plan to play an 8-10 game season starting the first weekend of February and running through the first weekend in March. The women’s basketball team at NVU-Lyndon has opted out of playing outside competition, but will participate in practices during the five-week season.

Practice and competition restart will follow NCAA recommendations and State of Vermont guidelines, with an emphasis on regular COVID-19 testing for all student-athletes, coaches, and support personnel.

Learn more here: NCAA’s Resocialization of Collegiate Sport: Developing Standards for Practice and Competition, Second Edition.

Spring and fall sports teams will begin team practices roughly 1 month prior to the start of their first competition scheduled in the Spring ’21 semester.

Athletics Participation Standards

  • The State of Vermont guidelines and NCAA recommendations are that all student-athletes, coaches, and support personnel are tested on a regular schedule:
    • 1x weekly testing for pre-season practices.
    • 3x weekly testing beginning one week prior to the start of competition and continuing through the competitive season.
  • NVU athletics has provided educational materials to the student-athletes detailing personal hygiene, masking procedures, social and physical distancing, practice procedures, and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) risks of transmission and risk mitigation policies.
  • NVU student-athletes have signed NVU’s Health Pledge, and also signed a code of conduct contract related to COVID-19 safety protocols as required by the State of Vermont.
  • Universal masking is required during all practice and strength training activities.
  • No spectators will be allowed at home contests. NVU athletics staff will stream all home games. The link to access the live stream can be found on the team schedule page on the athletics website.