Washburn basketball practices resumed this week.

After almost two months of students being back on campus, sports are finally on the horizon. On Sept. 30, the MIAA CEO Council met to create a schedule for the men’s and women’s basketball season, with practices beginning on Oct. 15.

Basketball and football will be the first to resume playing since the cancelation of fall sports in March.

Practices will begin this week. The plan is to start basketball games Nov. 19 and football games may start as soon as Nov. 7. These dates are subject to change.

“Now that we know a little bit more and testing is more readily available, the testing methods are more reliable,” said Brittany Lauritsen, assistant athletic director at Washburn. “The things that we are able to do now in October, versus July or August, are a lot different.”

Lauritsen said that Washburn is going to continue to work with Shawnee County health officials to comply with state and local regulations. This includes the issue of allowing fans to come to games.

Each location the team travels to compete against may have different rules regarding fans. As of right now, no official decision has been made on whether to allow fans into games at Washburn. The decision will be influenced by rules and regulations that may change before any games start.

Men’s basketball head coach Brett Ballard hopes that fans will get the chance to attend games. He is excited for the team to get a chance to play.

“I think our athletes, and my players in particular, have been very disciplined, [and] are doing everything they can to protect themselves and put themselves in a position to compete,” said Ballard. “I think that, right now, our focus for my program is,‘how can we get better today?’ and ‘how can we take this week by week?’”

If all goes well, both the men’s and women’s teams will get that chance on Nov. 19 at Fort Hays State University.

Edited by Jason M. and Abbie Barth.