LAC LA BICHE - It's hard to have an athletics sponsor for your college when a pandemic has shut down your athletics department — but Portage College officials are thankful their new sponsor is a good sport about it.
A three-year sponsorship agreement between Portage College and Lac La Biche County that was to see $100,000 annually in funding and services provided by the municipality to the college, will be delayed for year.
"It was supposed to be the first year of the new, three-year agreement," said Portage College's Manager of Community Relations Rick Flumian, "but with COVID..."
The college, which has campus locations across northeastern Alberta, announced it has suspended all of its athletic programs for the school year. The cancellation of sports programming directly affects about 70 student-athletes on several collegiate teams, including hockey, soccer, curling and golf. The decision has also affected community and political partnerships, says Flumian, who recently presented the college's primary sports sponsor with an option to extend their sponsorship deal.
"We are not asking for any of the $100,000 this year, obviously," said Flumian, but still offered to promote the municipality with any promotion that does take place for collegiate athletics in general. Flumian also said that a part of the agreement, which had been formally adopted last year, sees college athletes taking on the role of community ambassadors. With the cancelled programming and students taking regular classes on virtual platforms, those in-person connections aren't possible while the COVID-19 pandemic protocols are in place. "So we aren't able to fulfil our commitment to Lac La Biche County."
Nate Bedford, the head coach of the Portage Voyageurs men's hockey team and the director of Athletics for Portage College, has been part of the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC) task force since the coronavirus affected schooling and sports. He said the focus of the ACAC continues to be player safety. Through many task force meetings and discussions, he said sports programming in smaller communities, like the ones served by Portage College, poses unique challenges to safety protocols.
"We are a bit different than other schools," he said of the 17 colleges and institutes that make up the ACAC membership, explaining that schools in larger jurisdictions can draw more students and athletes from their local areas. Having more selection for athletes locally would mean less chance of bringing the virus into the community from outside. "Our programs and our teams have students that represent just about every province in Canada ... bringing in 65 or 70 athletes to a small community, we felt like that was a bit of a risk for us to do."
That risk is what lead Portage officials to announce a month ago that they would cancel the sports season — making the call before knowing what the ACAC will officially announce by their October 15 deadline. Bedford said he doesn't know for sure which way the league will go — but feels the Portage decision is the right choice.
Athletes still learning at Portage
The removal of sports for the year, Flumian says, has had some effect on enrolment — to a degree.
"There has been a little drop," he said, estimating a 10 to 15 per cent reduction in some programs offered at various campus locations.
But just because athletics programming has been cancelled, that doesn't mean student athletes have all opted out of a Portage education.
"We have 28 student athletes in the Lac La Biche community right now," said Bedford, explaining that the students wanted to continue their schooling opportunities without relying on initiatives available for athletes. "They're not on a scholarship. They're here on their own dime."
Bedford said the dedication of those students is a testament to the recruiting teams who encourage the benefits of a Portage College education while finding players to fill Voyageur jerseys.
The majority of students who were lined up to play on Portage teams this year have already expressed an interest to return to the school to play next year, once the COVID-19 protocols have been addressed. For students who have been in the post-secondary education system for the five-year eligibility limit, the 2020-2021 season is being seen as a "free-year", so athletes will get a "bonus" year when Voyageur teams begin next year.
Lac La Biche County councillors have officially amended their agreement with Portage College to begin their $100,000 per year, three-year athletics sponsorship in the 2021-22 season.
The municipal sponsorship of the Portage athletics program is the only agreement of its kind in the ACAC system.
