Jackson Heath, a Columbia University student-athlete, sat down with KC Athletes to talk about his experiences the last two semesters as a member of Columbia’s football team. Heath, a former Blue Balley Northwest standout, shares with KC Athletes how he learned of the Ivy League’s decision to cancel the 2020 football season because of the pandemic.
The Ivy League was the first collegiate athletic conference to cancel its athletics during the spring. Heath first learned that the Ivy League canceled the spring 2020 workouts from a tweet from the Ivy League’s Twitter account. After leaving the campus and finishing his semester remotely, he again learned that the Ivy League canceled the 2020 football season via a tweet from the conference’s Twitter account. Heath was hopeful that the team would return to practices and workouts during the spring 2021 semester, but the Ivy League recently canceled its spring 2021 sports and activities. Heath described that it was frustrating to learn of these big decisions via Twitter simultaneously with everyone else.
Heath stated that, although the NCAA will provide student-athletes with an additional year of eligibility, Columbia University only allows students eight semesters to graduate. Heath is hopeful that he will be able to return to campus for workouts during the summer of 2021, but he is concerned about the impact of taking over a year away from the game of football. Heath discussed the effects of the pandemic during this interview with KC Athletes.