UMFK has issued an announcement on their fall sports’ schedule from Matt Dyer, Interim Athletic Director.

Read the full letter below:

Dear UMFK Community, after careful consideration of health and safety guidance we will be adhering to as part of our commitment to return our students, faculty, and staff to campus this fall, the University of Maine at Fort Kent Athletic Department has decided to postpone our fall semester 2020 competition schedule. We will aim to resume intercollegiate competition after January 1, 2021. This decision was made in consultation with President Hedeen, our administration, and the USCAA.

We have been working together to support our student-athletes with the objective of having opportunities to compete safely this Fall since Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic in the Spring and we made the difficult decision to transition to distance instruction to complete the 2019-2020 academic year. With us now a month away from the start of the fall semester and a safe return to on-campus instruction, there are still multiple hurdles to competition.

Numerous Maine colleges and universities have cancelled their fall seasons within the past few weeks, limiting our number of viable opponents within the state. Cases of Covid-19 globally and within the United States continue to rise and there are still social distancing challenges and concerns. Given these factors, we feel that now is the appropriate time for us to postpone all our fall semester competition. This postponement will allow us to focus our energy on our athletes’ safe return to campus, preparing safe practice procedures and protocols for our fall semester, and implementing innovative ideas to provide growth and learning opportunities for our student-athletes.

As we look ahead to these fall training sessions that will be provided to our student-athletes, we will follow Maine CDC Sport Guidance. With the USCAA Announcement of their intention to provide championship opportunities to fall sport athletes during the spring semester, our fall semester will in many ways be aimed toward preparation for hopeful competition opportunities for all of our varsity athletic teams in the spring. Despite the fact that we will not be competing this fall, we will continue to honor all athletic scholarships during the 2020-2021 academic year as long as award recipients remain enrolled in a full course of study through UMFK.

While we understand that this competition postponement is frustrating for our student-athletes, staff, and all Bengal fans, we feel confident that this is the right decision to make to best ensure the safety of our campus and community. We are confident that our student-athletes and staff will persevere and take advantage of the opportunities presented to grow as a team and be prepared for competition in future semesters.

Sincerely, Matt Dyer, Interim Athletic Director

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