The Covid-19 pandemic hit Bucks County community College’s sports teams incredibly hard and their recovery has been even harder after the campus closed its doors to in person learning and sporting events.

In the past two years, students and staff alike have felt the lasting change from the pandemic. Three years later, the campus is in full-swing with more students returning, making the recovery process less difficult as things start to look up.

We talked to Matthew Cipriano, the athletics director at Bucks about the recovery and the changes with the sports department. He says that “Bucks is doing much better this fall compared to last Fall. Team interest has improved, and coaching and volunteer interest has also gone up.”

Optimism is high this year with interest rising, and students becoming more involved on campus. With hopes of women’s basketball and soccer teams improving in size and competitiveness and varsity sports team rosters filling out, Cipriano says that “Softball has an impressive amount of interest and I expect them to be very competitive and I’m hoping for an invitation to the small college world series”

The men’s sports are consistent with roster sizes and participation levels and there is optimism about success this year. “It would be great to receive a bid to the national tournament in soccer and basketball” said Cipriano.

Covid first affected campus sports in March 2020 when Buck’s baseball team had their spring break trip cancelled. Eventually, sports games and campus activity started to die down, and eventually all sports were cancelled for the rest of the season. Turns out they would be gone for an entire year.

“Throughout the shutdown, we kept making plans for returning, new and updated safety plans, budgets and more. It was really tough to stay optimistic because the department and the student-athletes were remote and the timeline for planning purposes kept extending,” Cipriano says.

There have been some changes with the sports teams in the past three years, one of the biggest changes being that Bucks has moved to a different governing body for the athletic programs. The school is now a part of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), and with this comes some different rules for eligibility and allows Bucks Community College to compete against more four-year schools.

Another substantial change has been that some of our sports which were once varsity sports, are now sports clubs. For the most part, sports clubs are student organized and ran, which allows more part time students to be involved in sports. Usually, these clubs will not have a coach but depending on the club some do, and the athletic department will be able to supply some support to these clubs and their students.

Unlike sports clubs, varsity sports must follow the rules of the USCAA. Varsity coaches are hired by the athletic department, and students must be considered full-time to take part.
According to Cipriano, “The club sport model is going well so far. We have hosted organizational meetings for the golf, equestrian, and women’s volleyball club with good student interest in each.”
As of right now it is felt like there are no downsides to these changes, and with rising student engagement and interest, the athletic department is on the right track.