The return of Kean sports approaches

By Dorian Alerte | Published by December 12, 2020

The wait for the return of sports at Kean is almost over.

After Fall sports were cancelled due to the New Jersey Athletic Conference suspension prior to the Fall 2020 semester, a plan is in place to return in the Winterin time for the Spring of 2021. This plan would allow for men’s and women’s basketball to return for a shortened season in January of 2021.

“The plan is to have a modified schedule. It would be nine NJAC games only,” said women’s basketball head coach Mandy King. “The start of the season may get pushed back, but as of now we are preparing and trying to stay ready so that we can be the best we possibly can be when we hopefully get the green light to go.”

With COVID-19 cases on the rise again, there may be a delay to the start of the season, but the NCAA has laid out guidelines outlining how the season should be conducted for safety. The page long memo on the NCAA website lists out the types of safety protocols that are recommended in order to conduct a game.

Basketball in a COVID-19 environment has been shown to be possible by the examples set forth by the NBA and WNBA bubbles and the college basketball Bubbleville. 

Bubbleville was a tournament set up for over 40 men’s and women’s basketball teams at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. This tournament was held over a period of 11 days in order to isolate players in a COVID-19 free environment.

After nearly nine months apart, Kean’s women’s basketball was just happy to get back on the court, even in a limited fashion.

“That initial shock of going through the protocols was almost like you were grieving all over again for what we don’t have, but quickly, as always with my girls we lean on our sense of humor, we lean on our work ethic, and we lean on each other, and all of a sudden it felt like life was normal again just for that short amount of time,” King said.

The women’s team returned to practice in early November and held four practices over that time until the Thanksgiving break. Coach King said that the team leaned on their values that they have named F.I.G.H.T. in order to stay ready for whatever this unprecedented year has thrown at them.

“It’s family, it’s integrity, it’s gratitude, hard-work, and toughness. If we were going to go through this pandemic we needed to lean on who we are and what we are as a program,” King said. “When we returned to practice, you could really start to see what Kean women’s basketball was really about by the end of that fourth practice. The passion and energy was incredible, the chemistry picked up where we left off, and I loved the ‘no excuses’ mentality.”

When the plans for the 2021 basketball season are solidified, the women have big expectations.

“My expectation is that we will play Kean basketball. That means we are tough, we are the first ones on the floor when there is a loose ball, we have a defensive mindset, we share the ball on offense, we never allow anyone to play harder than us,” King said. “I think that it is really important, with a shortened season, that the culture of our program continues to move forward.”

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