Heartland Volleyball and Soccer seasons moved to Spring

[July 15, 2020] 

Adjustments to the 2020-2021 NJCAA sports seasons will move the inaugural season of the Heartland Hawks Women’s Volleyball Team from the fall semester to the spring semester.

Under new guidance of the NJCAA, Heartland’s Volleyball team practice and scrimmages will be allowed this fall, but competition will not begin until January of 2021. This amends a previous plan that would have had Court Volleyball competition begin in August of this year.

The Men’s and Women’s Soccer championship season will also move from fall to spring.

As of now, other Heartland sports remain relatively unchanged from the plan set out by the NJCAA last month.

Men’s and Women’s Cross Country will begin practice on August 1 with competition to begin as early as August 20. The Men’s Golf team begins practice on September 5 with competition later that month. Baseball and Softball programs practice beginning September 5.

Heartland Baseball and Softball teams saw an early end to their seasons in March when the

NJCAA suspended the collegiate season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The return to play will be with health and safety practices developed from local, state and federal guidelines for safety with recommendations from the NJCAA.

“We knew as we approached the 2020-2021 academic year that our sports calendar might be a moving target,” said Heartland Athletics Director Ryan Knox. “Any chance to play competitive college sports is one we won’t take for granted. It requires patience, but we will do whatever is within our power to ensure a safe environment following all CDC, State of Illinois and IDPH guidelines.”

The 2020-2021 academic year will the first for the Women’s Volleyball, Men’s Golf and Men’s and Women’s Cross Country programs. The four sports were added to the Heartland Athletics department last year.

[Steve Fast
Director, Public Information
Heartland Community College]