Brandyn Martin (left) and Sean Usselman (right) were both preparing for their first seasons of USports football in 2020 (Submitted photo/Brandyn Martin and Facebook/Melfort Comets Football).

By Aaron Schulze

USports Reaction

Melfort football players react to USports cancellation ahead of their first seasons

Jun 13, 2020 | 9:41 AM

The decision from USports – Canada’s national brand of collegiate athletics – to cancel their fall sports on June 8 left athletes having to readjust plans for their academic year.

Fall sports cancelled by USports due to the COVID-19 pandemic include cross-country running, field hockey, football, rugby, and soccer.

In Melfort, two football players heading two separate ways have reacted to the decision.

Sean Usselman, an offensive lineman who was part of Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate’s provincial football championship win in 2019, committed to play his first year of collegiate football with the University of Regina Rams.

Academically, Usselman’s goal to receive a Bachelor of Kinesiology remains the same. However, without football, he doesn’t intend to move nearly three hours away from home.

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“I’m still planning on taking online classes for my first year,” Usselman told northeastNOW. “I may have to take an extra class to catch up, just because I wasn’t going to if I was playing football. But now [the season’s cancellation] gives me more time to work on school.”

Being fresh out of high school, Usselman still has plenty of years ahead of his collegiate football career if all goes according to plan. But he admitted hearing the news from USports about football’s cancellation was difficult to hear.

“I was looking forward to meeting the guys and going out there on the practice field and being a part of a new team,” Usselman said. “[Coaching staff] still haven’t concluded whether we’re going to be training as a group in Regina. If that does happen, there’s a chance I could be moving and participating in that.”

Other unknowns for Usselman include whether his athletic scholarship with the University of Regina will still be honoured and if he’ll lose a year of eligibility to play college football.

While the U of R Rams football team can’t practice in person yet, they’re still holding virtual meetings regarding their playbook and goals in the future.

Until practice resumes, Usselman said he intends to keep training and maintain his strength for the 2021 USports football season.

Still heading across the country

Without a sport to play, some collegiate athletes who have committed to programs outside their province must decide on whether they’ll still travel for schooling.

In Brandyn Martin’s case, he said he’ll still fly to Nova Scotia after he committed to St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) for his first season.

“[USports’ decision] was pretty shocking at first, since the season is another two months away” Martin said. “But I know where they’re coming from. I’m still looking forward to moving out there. I’ll be able to get to know the guys going into next season.”

Time could be more of the essence for Martin. The 23-year-old defensive back spent the previous four years playing junior football for the Regina Thunder. He expressed concern about he and other athletes losing a year of eligibility.

“The aged-out guys may be able to have an extra year because it’d be their final season,” Martin said. “We’d like to see them increase or eliminate the age limit in USports.”

Despite no football expected to be played, the near 4,000 km trip is still worth it for Martin. He said StFX’s athletic department told him and his fellow athletes that they’ll still honour all the athletic scholarships given out for the 2020 season. He added that StFX will try and hold as many in-person classes as possible, being a smaller school.

Off the field, business still appears to be going on as usual for StFX’s football team for June. Martin said the team and staff have also had virtual meetings and calls to go over the playbook. He intends to fly to Nova Scotia in July, as football players at StFX typically report to school in August to get a training camp in before the season starts.

“Looking at how it’s going to lay out, a bunch of the guys aren’t going to start showing up until school starts, then hopefully we’ll get back on the field as soon as possible,” he said.

Martin also intends to remain in game shape ahead of his big move.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow