Here's how the COS sports schedules are taking shape

The sports schedules for College of the Siskiyous teams are taking shape.

Athletic Director Charlie Roche said one challenge of putting together the schedule was many schools have decided not to compete this season. There are also a lot of COVID-19 protocols in place that have to be worked out.

“The biggest process is all of the organization of testing, education of protocols for our students and staff, and not knowing if other colleges will be able to compete,” Roche said.

Fans will not be allowed to attend games, but COS is working to have games broadcast live for fans to watch. All the currently scheduled games arte with teams from the Golden Valley Conference.

Roche said he is pleased teams will hopefully be able to play some game this season. This includes football, where Roche was the head coach before taking over as AD last year. At this time, COS has two games each scheduled with Shasta and Feather River. COS will be at  Shasta in Redding on Saturday, March 6, and at Feather River on Saturday, March 20.They will be  hosting Shasta on April 3 and April 10.

“We are excited,” he said. “This group has been working very hard every day since mid-August.

Shasta College has opted out of a basketball season. Right now, for both men’s and women’s hoops the only participating teams are COS and Feather River. Roche said the plan is to have four games with them at this time. The men's and women’s seasons open at home for COS on Friday,  March 12.

Volleyball has eight games scheduled so far. They open the year with two games at Feather River on Thursday, March 4, and host Shasta for two games on March 6. They host Feather River for two contests on March 13. They will play 10 more games versus Shasta and Feather River through April 8.

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Roche said there is a meeting this week to finalize the track & field, baseball, and softball schedules.

COS men’s basketball coach Kyle Heath said his team is supposed to scrimmage Butte this Friday at COS and he’s trying to schedule a scrimmage with Shasta as well. 

“My guys have been working in the classroom and the weight room and the gym for awhile now and hopefully their hard work pays off with a few game,” he said. “ It’s nice to be able to try and get something in as these guys have had a tough year with no ‘real’ season for over a year now, so hoping they get a chance to compete against someone else besides themselves.”

Heath said he really likes this group of players and hopes to  get a chance to evaluate and coach them in a few game situations. 

“My guys and I feel like our program have done a great job of controlling what we can control-working hard everyday, taking all the rules and restrictions placed on us seriously and try to stay in our own little team “bubble” so we can compete a few times,”” Heath said.

Without a doubt, he said, “ It’s been the craziest season ever for sure.”

Heath said that to him “that in the end we’re just trying to play a basketball game but it means a lot to these young people who are sacrificing a lot to chase their dreams.  It’s definitely exciting being around these guys everyday and either way feel like the future is bright for these guys and our program.”  

Roche  gave a huge thank you to the coaches “for extreme dedication to their students and COS.” He thanked “Athletic trainers for their willingness to help our students have a great experience,” as well as the “athletics staff for their dedication to the department and the students.”

Roche also gave a big thanks to “the food service staff for getting here at 5 a.m. every day and finding a way to feed all of these students.”

He also thanked the maintenance and facilities staff “for making COS as safe as possible during a pandemic” and the faculty for moving classes to remote learning and all the work it takes to teach in that mode.

He also said the student support staff has put countless hours spent on COVID protocols and updating their departments.

“Everyone has really pulled together to make COS as safe as possible,” Roche said. “There are a ton of hours involved with the planning and execution of the plans.”