‘I think a lot of this is driven by fear.’ Wrestling tournament held despite coronavirus
By now, you’ve seen what the novel coronavirus pandemic has done to sports in America — as well as the world.
The NBA, NHL and MLB were put on pause, while March Madness was canceled for the 2020 season. Other major sporting events such as the Masters and Boston Marathon were postponed, too.
Regular life plans were altered due to the COVID-19 disease, with some states issuing shutdowns of bars and restaurants and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended Sunday night that there should not be any events or gatherings of 50 or more people in the United States for the next eight weeks, according to multiple reports.
However, that didn’t stop a college wrestling tournament from taking place last weekend in Allen, Texas, despite the NCAA canceling spring sports, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Why?
Because the National Collegiate Wrestling Association National Championships doesn’t operate under the NCAA’s authority, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Fear-based beliefs
“I think a lot of this is driven by fear,” the NCWA executive director, Jim Giunta told the Dallas Morning News. “We’re going to do everything in our power to create an environment that’s more than safe for our athletes. But after we do everything we can do, we’re going to operate on faith rather than fear.”
So more than 600 athletes from 84 colleges participated in the tournament, the outlet reported. Eleven schools withdrew from the event due to coronavirus concerns, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Coronavirus precautions
Though, there were precautions in place for the teams that did compete, the outlet reported, which included referees not holding up the each match winner’s arm, “sanitization products at scorer’s tables,” no practice on competition mats and any athlete registering a temperature of 100.4 degrees or more was automatically disqualified.
But the Dallas Morning News reported no athletes had their temperature taken during the event and competition mats were only sanitized three times per day.
“From a philosophical perspective, do I think it’s overhyped? Yes, I do,” Liberty University coach Jesse Castro told the Dallas Morning News. “You know the talking points. We’ve dealt with this kind of stuff before. … We’re vigilant and we use common sense, but I refuse to live in fear. I’m not gonna do that.”
The outlet reported, “Castro, who brought 19 athletes to the event, said he believes part of the overreaction is related to ire directed at President Donald Trump. Castro said he concurred with his school president, Jerry Falwell Jr., who argued on Fox News earlier in the day that the coronavirus was being used by Democrats to impeach the president.”
The event was also open to spectators, but did not draw a huge crowd, according to the Dallas Morning News.
