July 16, 2020
Dear Students, Parents, Faculty, and Staff,
As we have been preparing for the 2020–21 school year, one of the big unknowns has been how the pandemic would affect the ability of Loomis Chaffee and our fellow Founders League schools to offer an interscholastic athletics season. I have been meeting regularly with the heads of the Founders League schools to discuss this issue and consider all our options. We delayed making this decision for as long as we could, hoping that the pandemic and its impact would wane over the summer. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Yesterday afternoon the heads of schools and athletic directors from the Founders League's schools met and unanimously decided to cancel interscholastic competition for the fall season.
The following is the statement issued by the Founders League:
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and after many discussions prioritizing community health, safety and well-being, the Founders League has unanimously, and with great regret, decided to cancel all Founders League interscholastic competition for the 2020 Fall season.
As the statement noted, the safety of our students and coaches drove this decision. It is a decision many secondary schools and college-level athletic leagues are also making, including the Ivy League, Patriot League, and New England Small College Athletic Conference. Decisions about interscholastic play for the winter and spring seasons will be made at later dates.
While I am sure the cancellation of fall interscholastic competition is disappointing, I want to reaffirm Loomis Chaffee's commitment to the advancement of our student athletes. This fall we will provide our students with rigorous sport-specific programs that are focused on drills and skill development, performance training, and social and emotional growth. The Loomis Chaffee Athletics Department will also launch conversations and speakers' series around nutrition for athletes, mindfulness, sport-specific college recruiting, and anti-racist work. In addition, the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) has given permission for schools to support out-of-season coaching, allowing us to work with our winter and spring athletes during the fall. As part of that work, we will schedule film sessions and internal "showcases" that we will livestream and invite college coaches to view for fall, winter, and spring athletes in the latter part of the fall as safety standards allow.
Loomis Athletic Director Sue Cabot and the fall coaches will be reaching out to athletes in the coming days to provide more details about the program outlined above. In the meantime, please feel free to contact Sue at sue_cabot@loomis.org or me if you have any questions.
Sheila
The Loomis Chaffee School • 4 Batchelder Road • Windsor, CT 06095 • 860.687.6000
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