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LSU's Beach Volleyball team plans for upcoming season following pandemic
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BATON ROUGE - As Louisiana begins its gradual reopening and eventual emergence from the coronavirus health crisis, student-athletes anticipate what upcoming seasons hold.
LSU's Beach Volleyball team, one of many groups that have faced cancellations of numerous events and uncertainty amid the COVID-19 outbreak, now look forward to getting back to the sport they love.
For years, these Tigers have proudly represented LSU while competing in Division I of the National Collegiate Sports Association, and now they know which players will be returning to continue representing LSU in the fall as the much-anticipated rooster was recently released.
Head coach Russell Brock and his colleagues aren't leaving anything to chance, Coach Brock already has a plan detailing the safest and most effective way to help the Tigers train for their upcoming season.
As LSU coaches like Brock make such post-pandemic plans, they face an unprecedented season, but they're working with the full support of LSU Athletics.
On Thursday, the university's Athletic Director, Scott Woodward, said he's planning to get student-athletes back on campus June 1, which is the same day the Southeastern Conference will lift its suspension of activities.
The Volleyball team's seniors, who've had a rough year amid the global health crisis and the subsequent shuttering of not only LSU but nearly all daily activities, are among the many seniors receiving another year of eligibility in addition to the automatic coverage of their scholarships.
According to the NCAA, in March, the Division I Council adjusted financial aid rules to allow teams to carry more members on scholarship to account for incoming recruits and student-athletes who had been in their last year of eligibility who decide to stay.
In a nod to the financial uncertainty faced by higher education, the Council vote also provided schools with the flexibility to give students the opportunity to return for 2020-21 without requiring that athletics aid be provided at the same level awarded for 2019-20. This flexibility applies only to student-athletes who would have exhausted eligibility in 2019-20.
Schools also will have the ability to use the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund to pay for scholarships for students who take advantage of the additional eligibility flexibility in 2020-21.
These adjustment to the rules mean rosters are larger than they’ve ever been before with incoming freshmen and, now, second year seniors.
Following a Thursday morning meeting of the Louisiana Economic Recovery Task Force, further adjustments may be made to local student-athletes teams. WBRZ will closely monitor the meeting once it begins at 9:45 a.m.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic and the resulting changes to local sports, student-athletes like LSU's Beach Volleyball team are eager to train and return to the sports they love.
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