British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) has come forward with an updated agenda for the 2020-2021 sports seasons. The organization governs intercollegiate athletics in the UK.
The biggest impact from BUCS’s latest announcements is that the bulk of the league’s tournaments and competition will be held in the second term, between January and April of 2021. Focusing on Term 2, BUCS says, is aimed at helping to prepare students to return to competitive sports following the time away from training. The 2020-21 season will also serve as what BUCS has deemed a “bridging season”, meaning that sports that rely on league standings for promotion or demotion within the league will not be affected by their standings at the end of the season.
The BUCS season for swimming is made up primarily of three meets: BUCS Short Course Championships, BUCS Long Course Championships, and the BUCS Team Championships. While the team championships were canceled last season (they were set to take place May 23-24), the other two meets of their season did occur. The BUCS Long Course Championships, held in February, featured 47 different universities, including eventual champions Loughborough.
The biggest impact on swimming would come if competition during the fall isn’t allowed to take place. The BUCS Short Course Championships traditionally take place in November and, with the focus on preparing for spring competition, the short course championship meet may join the growing list of meets canceled due to coronavirus. All hope is not lost as BUCS has said that they will continue to include dates for fall competition on their schedule, in the hope that it may take place. The full 2020-21 BUCS calendar will be released by Friday, August 28th.
As well as national-level competition, BUCS is also a governing body of certain international level sports. BUCS is currently working with the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) and European Sports Association (EUSA) in order to continue to provide international competition during the 2020-21 season. FISU is the organization that hosts the World University Games among other events.
BUCS has also said that they are exploring the possibility of expansion within sports that, by their nature, allow the adherence to social distancing. They are also considering the addition of ideas such as virtual activity, to allow BUCS to maintain some form of continuity throughout the year.
Each season over 1,700 athletes compete across the BUCS sponsored swimming competitions.
Great Britain is among the hardest-hit countries in the world amid the global coronavirus pandemic. The country has registered almost 300,000 cases of coronavirus resulting in almost 42,000 deaths according to worldometer.