Fans watch the FTCC men’s basketball home opener on Nov. 13, 2019. FTCC will limit fans to athletes’ immediate family and FTCC personnel this season due to Covid-19 restrictions. [FTCC photo by Brad Losh]
Fayetteville Tech student-athletes will compete in a unique environment this season, playing in nearly empty gyms at home games.
The change is the latest adaptation to help fight the spread of Covid-19. In the effort, FTCC will limit attendance to indoor sporting events to the immediate family of student-athletes and FTCC personnel to a maximum of 25 people.
The rule applies at both Horace Sisk Gymnasium, where and Reid Ross Classical School, home court for the Trojan men’s and women’s basketball teams.
“This is just another challenge in a challenging year,” men’s basketball coach Brian Hurd said. “I have had a couple of players comment to me that this will be the first their first time playing without somebody in the stands, cheering them on.”
Hurd said the Trojans have enjoyed the atmosphere of enthusiastic fans in recent years.
“Our home games have really been good in terms of allowing our team to feed off that crowd energy,” the coach said.
Volleyball fans watch FTCC’s home opener Sept. 3, 2019. FTCC will limit fans to athletes’ immediate family and FTCC personnel this season due to Covid-19 restrictions. [FTCC photo by Brad Losh]
Volleyball coach Moe Licardo echoed those sentiments.
“For two years now we’ve had a lot of fan support,” Licardo said. “We’re usually the only sport in season (in the fall), so we’d have our fans and some of the athletes from other teams would come and support us.”
Both sports will start on a delayed timetable, the result of a decision by the NJCAA to push all 2020-21 sports to the spring 2021 semester as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic..
To Licardo, that delay only serves to build his players’ hunger to get back on the court against opponents.
“We’re going to appreciate it even more and be more driven,” the coach said.
Hurd is using the environment of the quiet gym to improve his players’ communication on the court.
“I told them in practice that I only want to hear their voices and their sneakers,” Hurd said. “You can really hear who’s talking on defense, who’s communicating effectively.”
Communication will also be key on the volleyball court, Licardo said, with players rallying each other.
“Our players don’t play because they love the crowd,” Licardo said. “They play because they love the game and they’re playing for each other.”