What Does NCAA Ruling on Allowing Voluntary Activity Mean for Cal? - Sports Illustrated

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The NCAA has voted to allow voluntary activity in football and men's and women's basketball as of June 1, according to SI.com, although how that ruling affects Cal and the Pac-12 remains to be seen.

The news was originally reported by Peter Thamel of Yahoo.com via Twitter:

Now, you may ask, what constitutues "voluntary" activities.

The SI.com story states the following: "The workouts are considered voluntary, meaning no on-field coaches can have interaction with athletes, but strength staff members are expected to be able to supervise activity.

"In a normal summer, athletes can spend eight hours a week with interaction from the staff—two hours with on-field coaches and six with strength staffers. It’s unclear when programs will be allowed those normal activities."

The NCAA on NCAA.org defines voluntary activity this way:

To be considered a "voluntary" activity, all the following conditions must be met: The student-athlete must not be required to report back to a coach or other athletics department staff member (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) any information related to the activity. In addition, noncoaching athletics department staff members who observe the activity (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) may not report back to the student-athletes coach any information related to the activity;[NOTE: Coaches may not observe voluntary activities.]

The activity must be initiated and requested solely by the student-athlete. Neither the institution nor any athletics department staff member may require the student-athlete to participate in the activity at any time.

The student-athlete's attendance and participation in the activity (or lack thereof) may not be recorded for the purposes of reporting such information to coaching staff members or other student-athletes.

The student-athlete may not be subjected to penalty if he or she elects not to participate in the activity. In addition, neither the institution nor any athletics department staff member may provide recognition or incentives (e.g., awards) to a student-athlete based on his or her attendance or performance in the activity.

Cal and Pac-12 officials must determine how this will work at Cal. The parameters set up by the state of California will be a major factor, too. The City of Berkeley and Alameda County are currently in Phase Two of the four phases to return to normalcy.

Here are the California stages and the activities allowed in each, as reported by ABC7 News:

Stage 1: Everyone is either staying at home or a member of the essential workforce.

Stage 2: Reopening lower risk workplaces, including: Non-essential manufacturing (toys, furniture, clothing, etc.); schools; childcare facilities; retail businesses for curbside pick-up; offices where working remotely isn't possible, but can be modified to make the environment safer for employees

Stage 3: Reopening higher risk workplaces, which require close proximity to other people, including: Sporting events without live audiences; hair salons; nail salons; gyms; movie theaters; in-person religious services (churches and weddings)

Stage 4: Ending the stay-at-home order, which would allow for the reopening of: Sporting events with live audiences; concert venues; convention centers.

As the SI.com story notes here, standards will vary across the country: 

Every school—and every conference—isn’t in the same boat. Each state is under different stages of reopening, including some that haven’t even started the process. At least 18 states aren’t open at all or are in the early stages of opening, and dozens more are at completely different steps in the process.

Cal did not issue a statement in response to the ruling, but the Pac-12 has a policy in place through May 31 and the conference provided this statement after its Monday meeting:

At our Pac-12 CEO meeting earlier today (Monday), we discussed the current COVID-19 crisis and reaffirmed that we will be guided by science and data, the counsel of medical experts, and the health and safety of everyone connected to our campuses in our decision-making. We consulted with our Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee, over 50 of the world’s leading infectious disease experts, public health experts, physicians, researchers and trainers. The Committee has developed a comprehensive set of return-to-play protocols and guidelines carefully designed to enable our member universities, when they determine it is appropriate, to as safely as possible bring student-athletes back to campus and ultimately resume athletic competition. These guidelines, which will be continuously updated, address all aspects of intercollegiate athletic activity, and include requirements related to testing, contact tracing, hygiene protocols, education, and disease prevention. In determining whether to adopt the Committee’s recommendations, as well as any future adjustments to them, our priority will be health and safety.

With our current Pac-12 pandemic policy in place through May 31, we will make a determination on whether and how to modify that policy prior to that date based upon the work of our Committee and the advice of other relevant health experts. 

The Pac-12 presumably will work in concert with the decisions made by the governors of the six states that are homes to Pac-12 schools--California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. The conference then must decide whether all Pac-12 schools must adhere to the same timelines, even if some states are reopening businesses sooner than others.

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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