Exactly one year ago, Annabelle Hasselbeck was sitting at home, trying to come to terms with the fact that her much-anticipated senior year of high school had come to a sudden stop. That meant her senior season of lacrosse was now in doubt. Prom was, too. Graduation, as well. Everything felt uncertain, as the country shut down and millions of people began isolating at home.
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There were tears. There was anger. “There was every emotion,” her mother, Sarah, told The Athletic. Annabelle and her younger sister Mallory tried to stay active and engaged with the sport they loved, but their options were limited. They’d go outside and throw the ball around. They’d try to do Zoom workouts and stay connected with their team. They hoped early on that quarantine would only last a few weeks, and then life could return to normal. Prom. Graduation. Maybe a championship run. Of course, that didn’t happen.
“As a parent, you’re trying to give your children something to gird them through it,” Sarah Hasselbeck said. “I didn’t have the foresight to see that this was going to go on for so long and seriously impact her freshman year in college, too. We didn’t have the long view. I was just telling her, ‘This is going to get redeemed somehow in your life. You will get this time back.’”
Twelve months later, Sarah Hasselbeck is fighting for just that — time. She is part of a group of parents whose children are freshmen playing spring sports in Division I. Their children are part of the one class of current college athletes that have not received an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA. All 2020 spring-sport athletes did, after the NCAA canceled winter and spring championships. All 2020 fall-sport athletes did, as did 2021-21 winter-sport athletes; both of those announcements occurred prior to the start of competition for those seasons. These parents believe their children deserve the same in an effort to make up for the loss of their senior season in high school followed by the disjointed freshman season they’re currently experiencing under strict COVID-19 and contact tracing protocols.
In three separate votes over the past 12 months, the NCAA’s Division I Council approved a blanket waiver granting 2020 spring, 2020 fall and 2020-21 winter athletes an additional season of competition and an additional year in which to complete it. The reasoning behind such a decision was obvious for the spring athletes whose season was canceled but less so for the fall and winter athletes who would go on to play full seasons and crown champions. Council chair M. Grace Calhoun said the group’s decision came down to the fact that the pandemic would continue to impact those fall and winter seasons in unpredictable ways. Other members of the Council explained it to The Athletic simply: This wasn’t the experience these student-athletes signed up for, what with abbreviated seasons, intensive health and safety protocols and potentially debilitating isolation.
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Spring-sport athletes have begun their seasons in that same environment, but there hasn’t been much momentum to grant them an additional year of eligibility — mostly because the upperclassmen already got one a year ago. But the freshman class did not benefit from that ruling. Some freshman parents feel like this fact is slipping through the cracks, so they banded together. This effort started among lacrosse parents, but they say their group includes parents of athletes in other sports such as baseball, though some fear retribution from coaches if they speak out publicly. Jennifer Smith, whose daughter Belle is a freshman at Boston College alongside Annabelle Hasselbeck, has been coordinating Zoom meetings for concerned parents, circulating an online petition to increase awareness (with more than 1,500 signatures as of Monday night) and emailing members of the D-I Council with her concerns.
Last month, the Council said that it “declined to provide at this time a blanket waiver that would have extended the seasons of competition and period of eligibility for freshman spring sport student-athletes, noting that significant changes to spring sport seasons have not occurred yet.” The topic is on the agenda for this Wednesday’s Council meeting, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Athletic.
The argument against granting freshman spring-sport athletes this extra year of eligibility is largely one of pragmatism. At some point, the NCAA needs to get its member schools back on track. Rosters and scholarships are going to be messy for at least four years at this point; one or more classes are going to bear the brunt of so many upperclassmen ahead of them taking the chance to come back and fill roster or starting spots.
“You gave this to a billion people and you’re down to the last 100 and you say, ‘Nah,’ ” Jennifer Smith said. “They know this really sucks for those freshmen. They didn’t get a high school season. They’re dealing with big rosters. They’re dealing with super seniors on their team, trying to get playing time. … Of all people, you should do it one more time because this specific group of freshmen had it worse than anybody. The NCAA is looking at them and they’re saying, ‘This is so bad we don’t want that to happen to anybody else.’ But they’re getting it twice. They missed their senior season. Then they didn’t have any fall ball. They didn’t have any winter ball. Now, most of them aren’t even getting on the field.”
These parents feel it is reasonable for them to advocate for extra eligibility because their children and their children’s coaches are focused on trying to get through their spring seasons. They say they are asked about the effort frequently but privately. Sarah Hasselbeck, who was an All-America field hockey goalkeeper at Boston College and is married to former BC and NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, said repeatedly that this isn’t about her daughter’s chances to get on the field — Annabelle has played in all five of Boston College’s games so far, with two goals and an assist. “It’s about capturing the opportunity” of the NCAA experience, she said, and making sure it’s four years’ worth of opportunity. It’s especially important in sports like lacrosse that have a fledgling professional league, Hasselbeck believes. It’s likely college will be the end of most players’ careers.
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Smith understands that players may not even want to come back for a fifth year. Schools may not be able to offer them scholarships. Coaches may not want them back at that point, either.
“We are not asking for a guaranteed fifth year,” Smith said. “We’re just asking for the possibility of playing a fifth year. All we are asking for is the same one-time exception that they granted all other Division I athletes.”
Said Hasselbeck: “Why not fight for it? And see where the chips fall?”
(Photo: Greg Fiume / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
