Madison College will be cancelling the men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball seasons in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move comes after the North Central Community College Conference (N4C) announced cancellation of those three sports for its member schools. Madison College and five other schools make up the N4C.

In a Dec. 17 news release, the university said it is looking out for the health, safety and welfare of its student-athletes.

According to the release, “the timeliness of this decision is critical to allow our affected student-athletes the opportunity to thoroughly consider and evaluate how to best move forward with their academic plans and athletic goals.”

“This has been an extremely challenging and heart-wrenching decision to make because we know how important this is to all involved: our student-athletes, their families, our coaches, and staff. Unfortunately, our current COVID environment has not improved enough to allow for competition in these indoor sports that are deemed as higher risk,” said Madison College Director of Athletics Steve Hauser.

The women’s basketball team at Madison College finished the 2019-20 season with a record of 17-11 overall and 8-6 in the N4C. The men’s basketball team ended 13-16 overall and 5-9 in the conference, and scored 100 or more points in six games.

The women’s volleyball team completed 2019 with a record of 16-16 and 8-4 in the league. Aside from Madison College, other schools making up the N4C include Rock Valley College, Joliet Junior College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Harper College and the College of DuPage.

Madison College still plans to begin practices for outdoor spring sports of baseball, golf and softball in February with competitions anticipated to begin in mid-March.

Soccer practices are scheduled to begin on March 15 with games starting April 1. College officials say they will re-evaluate and assess all current plans at the start of the spring academic term.

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